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Inside the Din, Cells Fight Noise With Noise

May 22, 2014

Is the random noise inside a cell a nuisance, or have cells evolved ways to put it to work?

In Bees, a Hunt for Roots of Social Behavior

May 6, 2014

By comparing the genomes of social and solitary bees, scientists hope to uncover the basis for communal behavior.

Early Life in Death Valley

April 24, 2014

Evidence from Southwestern deserts suggests that oxygen-breathing organisms arose on land rather than in the seas.

The Remarkable Self-Organization of Ants

April 9, 2014

Knowing the rules behind ant-made structures could help scientists understand how other complex systems emerge in nature.

A Fundamental Theory to Model the Mind

April 3, 2014

Support is growing for a decades-old physics idea suggesting that localized episodes of disordered brain activity help keep the overall system in healthy balance.

Does Competition Drive Diversity of Species?

March 10, 2014

A large new study of ovenbird lineages questions the extent to which competing species push each other to evolve.

Scientists Reveal Structure of Pain Sensor

February 20, 2014

Scientists have finally resolved the structure of the molecule that responds to chili peppers, high temperatures and spider toxins.

Chemists Seek Possible Precursor to RNA

February 5, 2014

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

A New Physics Theory of Life

January 22, 2014

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

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