physiology

Other diseases with long-term symptoms can help us understand how COVID can affect us long after the virus itself is gone.

Studies of sleep are usually neurological. But some of nature’s simplest animals suggest that sleep evolved for metabolic reasons, long before brains even existed.

Researchers are tracking the different strains of SARS-CoV-2 and studying how they spread through our population and our bodies.

Research hints that the energy-generating organelles of cells may play a surprisingly pivotal role in mediating anxiety and depression.

The heartbeat and other bodily processes play a surprising role in shaping perception and cognition.

To explain why men are on average taller than women, scientists theorized about competition for mates. But the effects of estrogen on bone growth may be answer enough.

Going without sleep for too long kills animals but scientists haven’t known why. Newly published work suggests that the answer lies in an unexpected part of the body.

As COVID-19 cases continue to increase, our extensive knowledge of other coronaviruses informs our understanding.

Why did sex evolve? Theories usually focus on the diversity of future generations, but some researchers find compelling explanations in the immediate benefits to individuals.