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The Physics of Glass Opens a Window Into Biology
The physicist Lisa Manning studies the dynamics of glassy materials to understand embryonic development and disease.
Overtaxed Working Memory Knocks the Brain Out of Sync
Researchers find that when working memory gets overburdened, dialogue between three brain regions breaks down. The discovery provides new support for a larger concept about how the brain works.
CRISPR Gene-Editing Pioneers Win Kavli Prize for Nanoscience
The inventors of a “Swiss army knife” for genome editing received prestigious honors, as did pioneering scientists in astrophysics and neuroscience.
Cores From Coral Reefs Hold Secrets of the Seas’ Past and Future
Layered deposits of coral skeletons hold vast stores of environmental data from thousands of years ago, including annual records of ocean temperatures, water pollution and storm activity.
How Brain Waves Surf Sound Waves to Process Speech
By paying more attention to behaviors, and not just the activity of neurons, two researchers critical of most neuroscience learned how brains make sense of spoken language.
Vaccines Are Pushing Pathogens to Evolve
Just as antibiotics have bred resistance in bacteria, vaccines can potentially lose their effectiveness over diseases they controlled. Researchers are working to head off the evolution of new threats.
Artificial Neural Nets Grow Brainlike Navigation Cells
Faced with a navigational challenge, neural networks spontaneously evolved units resembling the grid cells that help living animals find their way.
A Thermodynamic Answer to Why Birds Migrate
New modeling studies suggest that birds migrate to strike a favorable balance between their input and output of energy.
Cells Talk in a Language That Looks Like Viruses
Disease-causing viruses and message-carrying vesicles sit at the ends of a spectrum of membranous particles that cells release.