Biology

You might wonder what mice on a stage inside a 360-degree virtual-reality dome might have to do with dementia, but studying how the brain makes sense of changing visual cues could lead to better understanding of why people with cognitive loss feel lost.

Beetles can live in incredibly dry environments by taking water from the air and absorbing it through their rectums. Scientists have now discovered how this rear-end phenomenon works, and the findings may help to protect world food supplies.

Can we take shortcuts on nature’s blueprint and make more efficient synthetic proteins? A new study finds simple combos of synthetic building blocks can make for protein alternatives that work just as well as, or even better than, the real thing.

They can live in extreme cold and heat, at pressures six times that of the deepest ocean trenches, and in the vacuum of space. One mechanism that makes the tardigrade so resilient has now been tapped to help crucial medicines travel further, easier.

Using a refined version of the CRISPR gene-editing tool, researchers have restored vision in mice with retinitis pigmentosa. The results may open the door for treatments for the one in 5,000 humans afflicted with the blindness-inducing condition.

Swimmers who wore Speedo’s controversial LZR Racer suit at the 2008 Beijing Olympics broke 23 world records, proving that being more streamlined has advantages. A new study out of Japan has shown that the same theory applies to sperm.

For all their love and companionship, our four-legged friends can cause a lot of stress. Scientists have now mapped the brains of anxious dogs, showing that they are indeed different, and it could lead to better treatment for happier, calmer dogs.

Researchers have discovered new information about how the body’s antibody-mediated immune system works, calling into question long-held scientific understanding and opening the door for potential advancements in immunological treatment.

One of the most profound mysteries facing science is how exactly life arose from non-living matter. Now, scientists have pinpointed a particular peptide that potentially kickstarted life – and it could all be nickelback’s fault.

Mussels and other mollusks usually aren't thought of as being all that active. Recently, however, scientists have documented a water-squirting behavior in just one species, which is apparently using the action to give its larvae a fighting chance.

Antibody treatments to combat the amyloid peptides leading to Alzheimer's disease have been mostly unsuccessful. But by hiding those antibodies inside nanoparticles based on sugar, researchers have seen success in treating the symptoms in mice.

The heart has long been called our "ticker." A new study shows why that might be the case even more than we previously imagined. Researchers have demonstrated that our perception of time shifts with the length of our heartbeats.

Scientists have described a new disease called plasticosis, caused by – you guessed it – plastic waste. So far it's only been identified in the digestive tracts of seabirds, but the scale of the problem suggests it could be widespread in other species.

A new study suggests natural selection was at work before life itself existed on Earth. By recreating the primordial soup, scientists identified how a cocktail of specific amino acids informed the genetic code of every single lifeform on the planet.

We’re willing to bet you’ve never given much thought to how bugs urinate, but even if you did you probably wouldn’t imagine them using butt-based pinball paddles to flick drops of pee at 40 G’s, using physics never before seen in nature.