Life Lessons from (Very Old) Bowhead Whales

A gene that helped bowheads adapt to frigid Arctic waters also granted them extraordinary longevity. Could it help aging humans become more resilient?

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Save the Whales. But Save the Microbes, Too.

Conservation biologists propose a daunting task: protecting Earth’s diversity of bacteria and other microbes.

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She Studied How Foresting Affects Pollinators

Kim Ballare was a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service until her federal grant “got snatched away.”

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How Did Hands Evolve? Look to Your Anus, a New Study Suggests.

The evolutionary blueprint for hands was borrowed in part from a much older genetic plan for our nether regions, a new study suggests.

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Uncovering the Genes That Let Our Ancestors Walk Upright

A new study reveals some of the crucial molecular steps on the path to bipedalism.

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For Some Patients, the ‘Inner Voice’ May Soon Be Audible

In a recent study, scientists successfully decoded not only the words people tried to say but the words they merely imagined saying.

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Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds

A statistical analysis found that the number of fake journal articles being churned out by “paper mills” is doubling every year and a half.

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Scientists are Learning to Rewrite the Code of Life

In a giant feat of genetic engineering, scientists have created bacteria that make proteins in a radically different way than all natural species do.

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Hints of Life on Exoplanet K2-18b Recede Even Further

New observations fail to confirm signs of life in the atmosphere of the distant planet K2-18b. They also raise questions about what it will take to detect biology light-years away.

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A 37,000-Year Chronicle of What Once Ailed Us

In a new genetic study, scientists have charted the rise of 214 human diseases across ancient Europe and Asia.

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