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To Heal Some Wounds, Adult Cells Turn More Fetal
Once again, body cells reveal unexpected plasticity: In a newly discovered type of wound healing, which some researchers call “paligenosis,” adult cells revert to a more fetal state.
The Universal Pattern Popping Up in Math, Physics and Biology
Quanta’s In Theory video series returns with an exploration of a mysterious mathematical pattern found throughout nature.
You Are Getting Sleepy — Tagged Proteins May Point to Why
The identification of SNIPPs, a set of proteins found primarily at the brain’s synapses, brings science closer to understanding why we need to sleep.
‘Functional Fingerprint’ May Identify Brains Over a Lifetime
A unique neurological “functional fingerprint” allows scientists to explore the influence of genetics, environment and aging on brain connectivity.
Evolutionary Math and Just-So Stories
Evolutionary stories like the grandmother hypothesis are easy to construct from mathematical models, but how well do they reflect reality?
How Insulin Helped Create Ant Societies
Evolution may have coopted an ancient metabolic mechanism to set social insects on the path toward one of the most puzzling behaviors found in nature.
Swarming Bacteria Create an ‘Impossible’ Superfluid
Researchers explore a loophole that extracts useful energy from a fluid’s seemingly random motion. The secret? Sugar and asymmetry.
To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget
Researchers find evidence that neural systems actively remove memories, suggesting that forgetting may be the default mode of the brain.
Why Nature Prefers Couples, Even for Yeast
Some species have the equivalent of many more than two sexes, but most do not. A new model suggests the reason depends on how often they mate.