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Biology

Neuroscientist Anil Seth in his darkened laboratory at the University of Sussex.
Q&A

Anil Seth Finds Consciousness in Life’s Push Against Entropy

By Dan Falk
September 30, 2021
Read Later

How does consciousness arise in mere flesh and blood? To the neuroscientist Anil Seth, our organic bodies are the key to the experience.

Micrograph of snowflake yeast.
evolution

Single Cells Evolve Large Multicellular Forms in Just Two Years

By Veronique Greenwood
September 22, 2021
Read Later

Researchers have discovered that environments favoring clumpy growth are all that’s needed to quickly transform single-celled yeast into complex multicellular organisms.

A detailed photo of a fruit fly wing in silhouette.
developmental biology

Mathematical Analysis of Fruit Fly Wings Hints at Evolution’s Limits

By Elena Renken
September 20, 2021
Read Later

A painstaking study of wing morphology shows both the striking uniformity of individuals in a species and a subtle pattern of linked variations that evolution can exploit.

An illustration of a cell sitting atop a circuit diagram.
cell biology

Biologists Rethink the Logic Behind Cells’ Molecular Signals

By Philip Ball
September 16, 2021
Read Later

The molecular signaling systems of complex cells are nothing like simple electronic circuits. The logic governing their operation is riotously complex — but it has advantages.

Photo of Karen Miga of the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a representation of chromosomes in the background.
Q&A

Karen Miga Fills In the Missing Pieces of Our Genome

By Carrie Arnold
September 8, 2021
Read Later

Driven by her fascination with highly repetitive, hard-to-read parts of our DNA, Karen Miga led a coalition of researchers to finish sequencing the human genome after almost two decades.

Illustration of a neuron lit up with electrical signals.
neurons

How Computationally Complex Is a Single Neuron?

By Allison Whitten
September 2, 2021
Read Later

Computational neuroscientists taught an artificial neural network to imitate a biological neuron. The result offers a new way to think about the complexity of single brain cells.

Illustration of DNA that represents how only a small part of the genome encodes proteins.
explainers

The Complex Truth About ‘Junk DNA’

By Jake Buehler
September 1, 2021
Read Later

Genomes hold immense quantities of noncoding DNA. Some of it is essential for life, some seems useless, and some has its own agenda.

Artist’s conception of DNA breaking.
neuroscience

To Learn More Quickly, Brain Cells Break Their DNA

By Jordana Cepelewicz
August 30, 2021
Read Later

New work shows that neurons and other brain cells use DNA double-strand breaks, often associated with cancer, neurodegeneration and aging, to quickly express genes related to learning and memory.

An artist’s conception of the ways that functional capacities have been mapped to regions of the brain.
neuroscience

The Brain Doesn’t Think the Way You Think It Does

By Jordana Cepelewicz
August 24, 2021
Read Later

Familiar categories of mental functions such as perception, memory and attention reflect our experience of ourselves, but they are misleading about how the brain works. More revealing approaches are emerging.


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