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Biology

Scary pumpkins are the least of what frightens us at Halloween, a day devoted to being frightened.

What Happens in the Brain When We Feel Fear

And why some of us just can’t get enough of it

“And bats with baby faces in the violet light / Whistled, and beat their wings”—T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

How a Deadly Flesh-Eating Fungus Helped Make Bats Cute Again

A silver lining to the worldwide epidemic of white nose syndrome: People like bats more now

That black light you had as a teenager might help put an end to that foul barnyard odors in the future.

Is Black Light the Path to a Stink-Free Livestock Farm?

Researchers at Iowa State University are using a new technique involving the UV-light producing device to curb bad odors

The molds responsible for aflatoxins grow on a number of staple crops, including corn, peanuts, millet, wheat, cottonseed and tree nuts.

Could Video Gamers Make Our Food Supply Safer?

An effort to combat poisonous molds that contaminate crops is looking to tap the puzzle-solving skills of amateur gamers

New Research

How Mosquitoes Sneak Away After Feasting on Your Blood

Special wingbeats and long legs help mosquitoes take off without getting smushed

New Research

Over Three Quarters of Flying Insects Disappear From German Nature Preserves

A combination of habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change may be behind the dramatic three-decade decline

Could This Bionic Vision System Help Restore Sight?

The technology gives hope that blind patients, who lost sight from disease, might one day emerge from the dark

How Flowers Manipulate Light to Send Secret Signals to Bees

Come-hither blue haloes are just one of the effects employed by nature’s first nanotechnologists

Aimee Stapleton and other researchers at the University of Limerick have found that lysozyme—in tears, saliva, mucus, milk and chicken eggs—accumulates an electric charge when squeezed.

Future of Energy

Your Tears Can Generate Electricity

A protein found in human tears can create electricity when placed under pressure, potentially paving the way for better biomedical devices

New Research

Why Wolves Work Together While Wild Dogs Do Not

Contrary to popular belief, domestication has made dogs less likely to cooperate to get food than wolves

Diploscapter pachys hasn't had sex for 18 million years, and is doing just fine

New Research

This Worm Hasn’t Had Sex in 18 Million Years

By fusing its chromosomes, the creature could essentially clone itself while still maintaining genetic variation

"We were joking that we could do some kind of a comedy about organ printing," says Zach Weinersmith. "What if there was this world where every part of your body is disposable? Everyone could act way more dangerously."

Ten Technologies That Will Change Our Lives, Soonish

A scientist and admired cartoonist explore how today’s research is becoming tomorrow’s innovations in a new book

Mothers Adopt a Universal Tone of Voice When They Talk To Babies

And other surprising facts about how we speak to infants

A harmless toilet plunger really takes the snap out of a snapping turtle.

The Musk Turtle Beer Koozie and Other Household Items We Use for Science

When the going gets tough, creative researchers turn to plastic lizard protectors, monkey loofahs and deer vagina trackers

The only specimen ever collected of the erstwhile species Phyllastrephus leucolepis, or the Liberian Greenbul

The Elusive Songbird Species That Likely Never Existed

After fruitless hunts for a Liberian songbird, DNA analysis suggests that the species is not new

Themira lohmanus

Cool Finds

New Species of Fly Found Breeding on Central Park Duck Droppings

The creatures are likely drawn to the area by the high concentrations of duck poop

A graphic showing the high image resolutions achieved with cryo-electron microscopy

Method for Capturing the Smallest Details of Life Nabs Chemistry Nobel

With cryo-electron microscopy, tiny living molecules can be seen in their natural states

The glowing end of a tapeworm took fourth place in the competition. 200x magnification

Art Meets Science

Revel in the Big Details of Tiny Things With These Prize-Winning Images

Skin cells, tape worms and fuzzy mold are among this years top photos

Art Meets Science

Explore the Secret Lives of Animals With These Marvelous Maps

A new book considers how sophisticated tracking technology and the data it collects can improve conservation strategies

Circadian rhythms dictate the patterns of sleep and wakefulness for much of life on Earth

Trending Today

Nobel Prize Awarded to Three Scientists Who Mapped the Body’s Internal Clock

Circadian rhythms dictate the daily patterns of life on Earth, and understanding these patterns is crucial to overall health

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