Latest Articles
Viruses Find a New Way to Hijack Cells
A virus that causes crippling birth defects has been shown to do something else: It changes thousands of messages coming from DNA that control normal cellular activities.
Why Some Genetic Miscues Are Helpful
A new look at the reasons why organisms missing pairs of genes sometimes do much better than normal.
Giant Genetic Map Shows Life’s Hidden Links
In a monumental set of experiments, spread out over nearly two decades, biologists removed genes two at a time to uncover the secret workings of the cell.
New Insights Into How Zika Harms the Brain
Researchers are racing to understand how the Zika virus causes birth defects. Their first results have revealed tantalizing clues about how the virus interferes with the developing brain — and how it might be stopped.
A Secret Flexibility Found in Life’s Blueprints
A new study reveals that individual genes can create many different versions of the molecular machinery that powers the cell.
A Timely Fix for a Grand Theory of Nature
A disarmingly simple model of ecology does everything well — except predict how rapidly nature can change. Can it become more realistic while still avoiding all of biology’s messy complexities?
The Woman Who Stared at Wasps
The biologist Joan Strassmann discusses cooperation in social insects, how amoebas can teach us about competition, and why the definition of “organism” needs an overhaul.
Networks Untangle Malaria’s Deadly Shuffle
By examining regions shared between some of nature’s most variable genes, malaria researchers are piecing together an understanding of a deadly parasite.
How the Body’s Trillions of Clocks Keep Time
Cellular clocks are almost everywhere. Clues to how they work are coming from the places they’re not.