Archive

Scientists have discovered building blocks similar to those in modern RNA that can effortlessly assemble when mixed in water and heated.

In a watershed moment for cryptography, computer scientists have proposed a solution to a fundamental problem called “program obfuscation.”

An MIT physicist has proposed the provocative idea that life exists because the law of increasing entropy drives matter to acquire lifelike physical properties.

Some organisms respond to stress by driving up their mutation rate. Are they evolving specific mechanisms to enhance evolution in times of crisis?

Mysterious episodes of genetic duplication in our great ape ancestors may have paved the way for human evolution.

Improvements in how densely spheres and other shapes can be packed together could lead to advances in materials science, deep space communication and theoretical physics.

Striking evidence that plants warn each other of environmental dangers is reviving a once ridiculed field.

By investigating the central role played by knots in fluids and fields, physicists hope to unravel long-standing mysteries of turbulence.

A rare brain stimulation study suggests that a brain circuit known as the “salience network” contributes to differences in our ability to overcome challenges and cope with stress.