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Biology

New Research

Oxytocin Encourages People to Think More About the Group, Less About Themselves

It’s not that oxytocin makes people act in a good or bad way, just in a way that best serves the interests of their people

Colorful archaea grow in in ponds.

New Research

How a Single Act of Evolution Nearly Wiped Out All Life on Earth

A single gene transfer event may have caused the Great Dying

Scientists made synthetic version of a chromosome found in brewer's yeast, pictured above, a fungus commonly used to make beer.

New Research

Scientists Build a Yeast Chromosome From Scratch. Next Up? Designer Genomes

Creating synthetic organisms with specially-tailored genomes is a long way off, but the first synthetic eukaryotic chromosome is a big step forward

Altering activity in the gut has been shown to affect mood and behavior. Can it also improve learning?

New Research

Checking the Claim: Can Probiotics Make You Smarter?

A researcher says a certain strain of gut bacteria can enhance brain power—but some critics aren’t sold

Compost

Cool Finds

New York Is Turning Its Leftovers Into Natural Gas, With the Help of Hungry Bacteria

Some cities are taking table scraps and turning them into fuel.

The planet Kepler-22b, shown in this artwork, is the right size and distance from its star to support liquid water, and perhaps life.

Life in the Cosmos

The Search for Life Across the Universe

Smithsonian astrophysicist Jeremy Drake explains how the question changed from “if” life will be found elsewhere to “when” and “where”

Fossil whale skeletons, evidence of an ancient mass stranding of the animals, discovered during the building of the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile in 2011.

New Research

Scientists Solve the Mystery of a Nine-Million-Year-Old Mass Whale Die-Off

Ancient blooms of toxic algae appear to have killed dozens of whales at once

A mosquito of the genus Anopheles.

New Research

Nazi Scientists Wanted to Use Mosquitoes to Send Diseases Behind Enemy Lines

The Nazi SS ran an entomological research facility

Wisdom the Albatross with her newest chick.

Cool Finds

Wisdom the Albatross, the World’s Oldest Known Wild Bird, Has Yet Another Baby

Wisdom is 63, and this is thought to be her 35th-or-so chick

Some dinosaurs, such as the (Caudipteryx zoui) above, had brightly colored feathers. New research suggests that modern birds inherited their own color varieties from their feathered dinosaur ancestors.

Colorful Plumage Began With Feathered Dinosaurs

The pigment patterns scientists use to predict ancient animal colors started with feathered dinosaurs and led to vibrant color in birds

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Cool Finds

This Terrifying Parasite Bears an Uncanny Resemblance to the Queen in “Aliens”

Phronima hollow out their prey and ride around in their corpse

Bombus flavifrons worker visiting a columbine in Grant Teton National Park

Bumblebees Can Fly Into Thin Air

Once thought to be unimpressive fliers, bumblebees may be able to summit Mount Everest, new research suggests

New Research

In the Animal Kingdom, Deadbeat Dads Breed Bigger Babies

Female reproductive strategies vary with paternal investment

Cool Finds

GM Purple Tomatoes Could Actually Be Good for You

These tomatoes are stuffed with anthocyanins (but they’re not the only source of the healthy pigment)

In Selfmade, microbiologist Christina Agapakis and scent artist Sissel Tolaas made cheese from bacteria collected from people's mouths and toes.

Art Meets Science

Cheese Made From Bacteria Between Your Toes and Other Bizarre Bio Art

With groundbreaking (and controversial) projects, artists are starting a conversation about the future of synthetic biology

Whitespotted greenling (Hexagrammos stelleri)

Art Meets Science

The True Inner Beauty of Fishes

A biologist and a poet team up for a new exhibition at the Seattle Aquarium that features images of bleached and stained fish skeletons

New Research

This Crazy Anemone Hangs Upside Down From the Antarctic Ice Shelf

Edwardsiella andrillae pop their tentacles out to feed

Hiroshi Nagashima and Hiromitsu Nakauchi aim to genetically engineer pigs that grow human organs.

Will Japanese Researchers Grow Human Organs Inside Pigs?

A controversial technique to develop body parts from stem cells may someday save countless lives, but will society allow it?

Northern bald ibises in a classic flying "V" formation.

Scientists Solve Mystery of Birds’ Flying V

Migrating birds flap in and out of rhythm depending on where they are in formation

The finger pads of a person with adermatoglyphia are entirely smooth.

Curious Conditions

Adermatoglyphia: The Genetic Disorder Of People Born Without Fingerprints

The extremely rare disease causes no problems—apart from occasional difficulties with the authorities

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