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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Shining a Light on the World of Microproteins

From viruses to humans, life makes microproteins that have evaded discovery until now.

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There’s Probably No Life on K2-18b After All, Three Studies Conclude

In April, astronomers said they had detected a possible signature of life on the exoplanet K2-18b. Now, three independent analyses discount the evidence.

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Genetic Study Retraces Covid’s Origins in Bats

As China and the United States trade charges of a lab leak, researchers contend in a new paper that the Covid pandemic got its start, like a previous one, in the wildlife trade.

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Two Theories of Consciousness Faced Off. The Ref Took a Beating.

What makes humans conscious? Scientists disagree, strongly, as one group of peacemakers discovered the hard way.

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