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Tissue Engineers Hack Life’s Code for 3-D Folded Shapes
Mechanical tension between tethered cells cues developing tissues to fold. Researchers can now program synthetic tissue to make coils, cubes and rippling plates.
What Makes the Hardest Equations in Physics So Difficult?
The Navier-Stokes equations describe simple, everyday phenomena, like water flowing from a garden hose, yet they provide a million-dollar mathematical challenge.
With ‘Downsized’ DNA, Flowering Plants Took Over the World
Compact genomes and tiny cells gave flowering plants an edge over competing flora. This discovery hints at a broader evolutionary principle.
Why Is M-Theory the Leading Candidate for Theory of Everything?
The mother of all string theories passes a litmus test that, so far, no other candidate theory of quantum gravity has been able to match.
New Bird Species Arises From Hybrids, as Scientists Watch
The rapid, unorthodox emergence of a new finch in the Galápagos hints that speciation isn’t rare. New hybrid species may quietly appear and disappear without anyone noticing.
Neutrinos Suggest Solution to Mystery of Universe’s Existence
Updated results from a Japanese neutrino experiment continue to reveal an inconsistency in the way that matter and antimatter behave.
Mathematicians Crack the Cursed Curve
A famously difficult mathematical problem resisted solution for over 40 years. Mathematicians have finally resolved it by following an intuition that links number theory to physics.
The Overlooked Link Between Two of This Year’s Nobel Prizes
To better understand the molecules described by the latest prize in medicine, we will need the technique recognized by the latest prize in chemistry.
Deathblow Dealt to Dark Matter Disks
New data tracking the movements of millions of Milky Way stars have effectively ruled out the presence of a “dark disk” that could have offered important clues to the mystery of dark matter.