Abstractions blog

To develop new model organisms, scientists will have to find species that are easy to grow in the lab.

When life first emerged roughly 4 billion years ago, DNA may have been a much more malleable molecule.

Scientists are having a difficult time finding a treatment for the Zika virus in part because so few drugs are safe for pregnant women. But one antibiotic has shown promise.

By blasting a stack of minerals with a four-meter-long gun, scientists have found a new clue about the backstory of a very strange rock.

A newly discovered anole on the island of Hispaniola confirms that the buildup of ecological communities can follow predictable patterns.

Peter Scholze is a favorite to win one of the highest honors in mathematics for his contributions in number theory and geometry.

Rampant rumors and a new analysis undercut hopes of a major discovery at the Large Hadron Collider.

Nature’s laws are beautiful because they strike a compromise between boring symmetry and confusing asymmetry, physicists say.

Metal-eating microbes get energy from rocks and could teach us about life on other worlds — but first scientists had to learn how to grow them in the lab.