Biology

For over a century, biologists have had to contend with a complicated picture of genetics, which they’ve only recently begun to understand.

The reshuffling of neurons during fruit fly metamorphosis suggests that larval memories don’t persist in adults.

In some deep subterranean aquifers, cells have a chemical trick for making oxygen that could sustain whole underground ecosystems.

Abnormal waves of electrical activity can cause a heart’s muscle cells to beat out of sync. In this episode, Flavio Fenton, an expert in cardiac dynamics, talks with Steve Strogatz about ways to treat heart arrhythmias without resorting to painful defibrillators.

Extreme microorganisms carpeting the Atacama Desert in Chile illuminate how life might have first taken hold on Earth’s surface.

New research reveals how marine microbes use an extra membrane that once had digestive functions to boost their yield from photosynthesis.

New modeling work suggests why nature is more diverse than niche-based ecological theory predicts.

To buffer the brain against menaces in the blood, a dynamic, multi-tiered system of protection is built into the brain’s blood vessels.

With embryolike constructs built entirely from stem cells, researchers can revolutionize our understanding of development. But how close to an embryo is too close?