Science and comic books have been cross-pollinating each other for some time (think Spider-Man). But kids can learn a lot of valuable science information from comics books too.
Messenger RNA carries the instructions for life from DNA to the rest of the cell.
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In the spotlight for its role in COVID-19 vaccines – and a Nobel Prize – mRNA is not a new invention. It’s a crucial messenger molecule at work every day in every cell in your body.
New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman routinely tops 100 mph with his fastball.
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
Trees and shrubs in cold-weather climates rely on certain signals, such as temperature and light, to know when to leaf out and bloom. Climate change is scrambling those signals.
A coat of sand makes an effective armor.
Eric LoPresti
As invasive species transform the world, frontline agencies take solace that species needing unique partners can’t invade alone. A new study on figs shows they may find new partners to invade anyway.
Just 20 amino acids for chains in various combinations to create the thousands of varieties of proteins in our body.
David Goodsell/ProteinDatabase
Specimen preservation means researchers don’t need to reinvent the wheel each time they ask a new question, making it critical for the advancement of science. But many specimens are discarded or lost.
Getting the job done. A female Asian water dragon (Physignathus cocincinus) produced a daughter (left) without the assistance of a male.
Skip Brown/Smithsonian’s National Zoo
Mercedes Burns, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Parthenogenesis, a form of reproduction in which an egg develops into an embryo without being fertilized by sperm, might be more common than you realized.
Small but fierce: Grasshopper mice can eat prey that are toxic to other mice.
Lauren Koenig
New strategy helps build synthetic organs from scratch. This enabled the researchers to grow functioning liver tissue in the lab that could be transplanted into mice with liver disease.
A simple chain of amino acids folds into a complex three-dimensional structure.
Scientists in an artificial intelligence lab have made a breakthrough in solving the problem of how proteins fold into their final three-dimensional shape. The work could speed up creation of drugs.
It’s one of the largest funding cuts to any university course, and will leave Australia ill-equipped to deal with the environmental challenges of the future.
Scientists are revealing the extent to which our behaviour is influenced by our genes, calling into question our capacity for free will. But there is still scope for change.
Working together to figure out where to eat.
Cheyenne Montgomery/Moment via Getty Images
New research suggests individual bees are born with one of two learning styles – either curious or focused. Their genetic tendency has implications for how the hive works together.
The microbes in the mother’s gut can alter the number of neurons in the baby’s brain and the connections they make.
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Helen Vuong, University of California, Los Angeles
Microbes in the gut aren’t just important for digesting your food. In pregnant women, these gut microbes are producing chemicals that are essential for proper brain development of the fetus.