Biology

By probing its molecular structure, biologists are uncovering how a tangle of unstructured proteins turns into a strong, flexible fiber.

To invade red blood cells, the deadly protist creates a temporary molecular portal that disappears behind it — a door we can now see in fine detail.

Winning entries in the 2026 Nikon Small World competitions reveal the hidden interactions that govern everyday life.

Evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers explains how fungal networks in soil trade nutrients with plants, help keep carbon underground, and strike bargains without having a brain.

C.H. Waddington’s powerful image of embryonic stem cells specializing on a rolling landscape has captivated biologists since the 1950s. Experimental data is finally confirming, and complicating, his visionary ideas.

Unexpected patterns traveling across the human brain may be reorganizing its activity in real time.

Scientists have a history of trying — and failing — to link biology and quantum mechanics. The real connection between them may be in the math.

Half of our genome is made of transposons — snips of DNA that can move and copy themselves. But they’re more than parasites or genetic junk.

The mystery of the flipping foraminifera may conceal a rarely observed evolutionary process playing out across the planet.