Biology

Scientists believe the bacteria may hold clues to the origins of life itself.

Subterranean Surprises

Scientists are discovering that caves more complex than we ever imagined may yield vast riches about the origins of life

Birdbrain Breakthrough

Startling evidence that the human brain can grow new nerves began with unlikely studies of birdsong

When scouts discover a suitable plant near their nest, they leave a pheromone, or chemical, trail, to efficiently guide legions of worker ants to it. The workers soon stream back to the nest in six-inch-wide columns bearing loads up to ten times their own weight.

Small Matters

Millions of years ago, leafcutter ants learned to grow fungi. But how? And why? And what do they have to teach us?

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The Rarest of the Rare

Scientists at the Smithsonian's Conservation and Research Center have snatched endangered creatures from the brink and redefined conservation biology

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Foreign Worm Alert

Aliens are tunneling through North America. Who'd have thought these earth tillers have a downside?

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Wanted, Dead or Alive

When scientists go scavenging at a bioblitz, anything they can find that's organic is considered fair game

A Census of the Wild

A government report takes a look at what we have left and where we are heading

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Tasty Brazil Nuts Stun Harvesters and Scientists

A Smithsonian biologist tracks the protein-rich nuts to understand their role in the Amazonian forest

Human embryonic stem cells in cell culture

Ailing? Just Add Cells

Now we can grow the cells from which all others derive, but ethical questions are involved

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From Twigs to Ravens, Nothing Escapes the Notice of Bernd Heinrich

Ishihara Plate 9

Hey, Mr. White, That's the Wrong Color for That

As hard as you might try, it's not easy to keep folks from finding out that you're color-blind

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Phenomena, Comment and Notes

Experiments at sea show we can cause phytoplankton to bloom in areas where it otherwise would not

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