biology
A big open question in 21st-century science is how life began here on Earth. The metabolism-first scenario just might be the best one.
The “dystopian” biotech imagined in these novels is now changing real lives for the better.
From global DNA screening standards to safeguards for benchtop synthesizers and AI tools, a new biosecurity playbook is taking shape.
Technology, shifting rules, and human ambition push athletes beyond biology’s perceived limits.
New biotech tools could clean up everything from construction to agriculture.
No claim has even made it halfway up the Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) scale, but 21st century science is just beginning to unfold.
Being mortal makes life so much sweeter.
If love is an addiction, your first love is the first dose.
Elephants mourn the dead, dolphins give names to each other, and insects can recognize faces. The animal world is much smarter than we think.
These animals to grow scalpel-sharp and precisely shaped tools that are resistant to breaking.
A recent study sheds light on the evolutionary history of rhinoceroses and their remarkably low levels of genetic diversity.
MIT researchers design glue that mimics the sticky substance barnacles use to cling to rocks.
These enormous centipedes are straight out of science fiction.
Sometimes, new combinations of preexisting things revolutionize life.
The risk of dying basically flattens after age 110.
While a squirrel’s life may look simple to human observers – climb, eat, sleep, repeat – it involves finely tuned cognitive skills.
Three cutting-edge techniques – the gene-editing tool CRISPR, fluorescent proteins and optogenetics – were all inspired by nature.
The brain of an ancient bird offers clues to the survival of its modern-day relatives.
Scientists discover surviving viruses in 15,000-year-old glacier ice on the Tibetan Plateau in China.
A new study tested to what extent dogs can sense human deception.
Scientists do not know what is causing the overabundance of the gas.
Strange underwater icicles form in the Earth’s coldest regions and freeze living organisms in place.
When facing a predator, single cells sometimes unite to defend themselves, paving the way for more complex multicellular life forms to evolve.
The opening of jars, while impressive and often used to illustrate octopus intelligence, is not their most remarkable ability.
Are you getting a full 8 hours?
Humans could, in theory, one day use scaling laws to extend our lifespans.
▸
7 min
—
with
Evolutionary success is not about the number of one’s children, but one’s grandchildren: the children need to survive and pass on their genes.
A team of biohackers is on a David-versus-Goliath mission to make insulin affordable to an increasing number of diabetics.