We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.
Quanta Homepage
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Computer Science
  • Topics
  • Archive

What's up in

biology

Latest Articles

Quantized Columns

How Many Microbes Does It Take to Make You Sick?

By Tara C. Smith
September 27, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Exposure to a virus isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. The concept of “infectious dose” suggests ways to keep ourselves safer from harm.

genomics

To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA

By Dan Samorodnitsky
September 26, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Under a microscope, cells in a worm embryo deliberately eliminated one-third of their genome — an uncompromising tactic that may combat harmful genetic parasites.

developmental biology

What Makes Life Tick? Mitochondria May Keep Time for Cells

By Viviane Callier
September 18, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Every species develops at its own unique tempo, leaving scientists to wonder what governs their timing. A suite of new findings suggests that cells use basic metabolic processes as clocks.

biodiversity

‘Species Repulsion’ Enables High Biodiversity in Tropical Trees

By Veronique Greenwood
September 13, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Because tree seedlings don’t grow as well when close to their parents, more tree species can be packed into tropical forests.

Illustration of a snail climbing on a mirror, showing the opposite spiral of its shell in the reflection.
origins of life

Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
September 6, 2023
Comment
Read Later

The preferred “handedness” of biomolecules could have emerged from biased interactions between electrons and magnetic surfaces, new research suggests.

memory

The Usefulness of a Memory Guides Where the Brain Saves It

By Saugat Bolakhe
August 30, 2023
Comment
Read Later

New research finds that the memories useful for future generalizations are held in the brain separately from those recording unusual events.

Quantized Columns

The Hidden Brain Connections Between Our Hands and Tongues

By R. Douglas Fields
August 28, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Sticking out your tongue while doing delicate work with your hands reveals a history of evolutionary relationships.

Illustration of a giant human head, with small openings cut into the front and back. Light shines out of these openings and tiny people on ladders peer into them.
consciousness

What a Contest of Consciousness Theories Really Proved

By Elizabeth Finkel
August 24, 2023
Comment
Read Later

A five-year “adversarial collaboration” of consciousness theorists led to a stagy showdown in front of an audience. It crowned no winners — but it can still claim progress.

Q&A

Andreas Wagner Pursues the Secrets to Evolutionary Success

By Veronique Greenwood
August 15, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Why did mammals, grasses and some other groups of organisms explode in diversity only after millions of years? The evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner plumbs the secrets of those “sleeping beauties.”


Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • ...
  • 65
Next
Follow Quanta
Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

Youtube
YouTube

Instagram
Instagram

RSS
RSS

Newsletter

Past Month

Most Read Articles

This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
The Quanta Newsletter

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox

Recent newsletters
Quanta Homepage
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram

  • About Quanta
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Simons Foundation
All Rights Reserved © 2023