Biology

A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all depend on comparisons between ongoing actual experiences and the brain’s modeled expectations.

Evidence mounts that organisms without nervous systems can in some sense learn and solve problems, but researchers disagree about whether this is “primitive cognition.”

With a fully sequenced genome in hand, scientists hope they are finally poised to learn how axolotls regenerate lost body parts.

The all-too-intuitive picture of a straight arrow going from cause to effect is far too simplistic to describe the real world.

New results emerging from graph theory prove that the way a population is organized can guarantee the eventual triumph of natural selection — or permanently thwart it.

The more closely geneticists look at complex traits and diseases, the harder it gets to find active genes that don’t play some part in them.

Being able to think like a physicist helps Carina Curto, a mathematician-turned-neuroscientist, pull insights about the human brain out of theoretical models.

Elastic springs help tiny animals stay fast and strong. New work is finding what size critters must be to benefit from the springs.

The physicist Lisa Manning studies the dynamics of glassy materials to understand embryonic development and disease.