Many living organisms generate and even detect static electricity in their natural environments. We must understand more to ensure we don’t disturb these delicate processes.
New research in fruit flies elucidates how the genes that direct animal body shape work.
Vaclav Hykes/EyeEm via Getty Images
Hox genes make sure all your body parts grow in the right place. Understanding how they work can reveal the process of evolution and lead to potential treatments for congenital birth defects.
Want to observe native bees? Or seek out invasive species? There are many ways to get hands-on science learning. An expert on adult STEM education suggests four places to start.
Around two in every 100 people have sex characteristics between the male-female binary definitions. Training for doctors and other health workers needs to reflect this.
Some institutions publish information about their mishaps, while others do not.
Peter Kneffel/picture alliance via Getty Images
A centralized reporting system for laboratory incidents involving dangerous pathogens in biological research does not exist in the US or internationally.
The banded rubber frog. Biodiversity research is heavily regulated in South Africa.
Robin Marittz
Some people seeking to influence public opinion about abortion rights claim the science is clear. It’s not, and that means abortion remains a political question – not a biological one.
For centuries, sailors have told tales of milky seas – huge swaths of ocean glowing on dark nights, seen in blue in this false–color satellite image.
Steven D. Miller/NOAA
When conditions are just right in some parts of the Indian Ocean, a type of bacteria will multiply and start to glow. Satellites are helping scientists study these milky seas for the first time.
A babbling pup produces distinct syllables, visualized in this composite image.
Michael Stifter and Ahana Fernandez
Vocal imitation is a key part of how humans learn to speak. New research shows that bats babble to learn and use baby talk to teach, just like people do.
Giant sea bass are listed as a critically endangered species.
Maru Brito
The giant sea bass fishery collapsed long ago in the US, but that didn’t mean the species was endangered. New research shows these iconic fish have been thriving south of the border.
Science teaches you many skills. Even if you don’t plan for a science related career, including a science subject in your senior years can provide a good balance. But only if you’re interested.
Venom, size, and speed: these are the factors that determine which ambush predator will emerge victorious. So let’s look at the strengths of each arachnid.
Juniper trees, common in Arizona’s Prescott National Forest, have been dying with the drought.
Benjamin Roe/USDA Forest Service via AP
Quantum microscopes reveal biological structures that would otherwise be impossible to see.
With the evidence uncovered by paleontologists, an artist sketched El Bosque Petrificado Piedra Chamana as it might have looked long before humans.
Mariah Slovacek/NPS-GIP
Researchers have grown the first human-monkey hybrid embryos as well as mouse embryos in artificial wombs late into development. These biomedical breakthroughs raise different ethical quandaries.