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A white bird with blue eye patch sings on a branch
Living World

The lucrative bird-singing contests that are pushing species to the brink

By Sandy Ong

Millions of songbirds in Southeast Asia are trapped and smuggled each year for keeping as pets or entering in competitions. Scientists warn that it's fueling a crisis.

Illustration shows a man reading on his phone under the watchful eyes and guidance of two virtual beings.
Technology

AI shows promise in the fight against fake news

By Katarina Zimmer

In an epidemic of online misinformation, experts look to artificial intelligence to help sort fact from fiction

Illo of a cross section of a human head showing the brain. The head is smelling pink flowers.
Health & Disease

When the ability to smell goes away

By Victoria Clayton

Disturbances in this critical sense are often linked to problems with brain health, researchers are learning

Four paintings, side by side, of robots that look as though they are pondering deep questions.
Technology

How will AI make moral decisions for you and me?

By Tim Vernimmen

There’s an urgent need to study how artificial intelligence makes ethical choices because it soon will make many such decisions in our stead, says computer scientist Iyad Rahwan

The head of a 3D printer squirts liquid into a Petri dish containing pink tissue.
Technology

Can printed ‘skin’ help to heal burns without scars?

By Andrea Teagle

Inks created with a patient’s own cells might one day help the body regrow tissues

Illustration shows infected wounds, bacteria and light
Health & Disease

To heal stubborn wounds, scientists look to nanomaterials

Slow-healing lesions — common in diabetics and burn victims — can lead to lingering infections that resist antibiotic treatment. A new approach using light-activated therapies may offer a solution.

By Zunnash Khan
Crowded makeshift buildings of concrete and siding stacked on one another.
Society

Slums are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis — and devising solutions

As temperatures rise, it is the poor who suffer most. The coping strategies of those living in informal settlements may hold lessons for cities of the future.

By Laura Spinney
A classic 1942 painting by US artist Edward Hopper shows people inside a late-night diner.
The Mind

Why we crave company

By Elizabeth Preston

Neuroscientists are discovering that spending time with others may be a basic biological necessity, like need for food or water

Close-up photo of three mosquitos perched on a rat tail.
Living World

Blood, poop and carcasses: How feasting bugs are helping map biodiversity

By Alice Sun

Critters that dine on flesh and waste also consume the animal’s DNA. That genetic material is helping scientists detect and map elusive species and their pathogens.

Illustration shows a bank of data center hardware. Above it is the Earth getting very hot in a frying basket.
Technology

How to tame AI’s voracious appetite for energy

By Katarina Zimmer

Scientists are exploring new algorithms, hardware and computing methods to lower AI’s power demands. Strategic siting of data centers and other steps to increase green energy use are also key.

Profiles of dog, bird, goat, mouse and snake in thermal reds and oranges.
Living World

They call it stupid hot for a reason: Heat muddles animal brains

By Marta Zaraska

As temperatures rise, some creatures pick fights while others struggle to learn. The consequences of these behavioral changes may ripple through ecosystems.

A conceptual illustration shows brain scans, map of South Africa and other elements.
The Mind

A social compass in the brain

By Richard Stone

People with a rare genetic disorder that damages the amygdala are helping neuroscientists rethink how the brain shapes fear, trust and concern for others

Multimedia

An artist’s conception of a frilly T cell interacting with a transparent B cell against a backdrop of red blood cells.
Health & Disease

A revolutionary cancer treatment could transform autoimmune disease

By Amber Dance

Researchers are testing CAR T cell therapy as a way to reset the immune system in lupus, Graves’ disease and other conditions where the body’s defenses go rogue

Collage featuring photos of five endangered species.
Food & Environment

The deep roots and fragile future of biodiversity

By Valeria Román

Species are disappearing at least 10 to 100 times more rapidly today than extinctions observed over millions of years. A biologist says the answer is reciprocity — to give to the planet and not just take.

An illustration shows strands of RNA used to make drawings of items such as a bicycle, running shoe, hand holding a cigarette and an ice cream cone.
Living World

Do you take after your dad’s RNA?

By Holly Barker

Evidence is growing from rodent studies that sperm carries marks of a father’s life experiences, influencing traits in offspring. Bits of RNA could be the drivers of these epigenetic effects.

A collage illustrates the wide diversity of snakes that can be found on the surface of the ground, on tree branches, in the water and in holes in the ground.
Living World

Evolution of snakes: Scientists unravel the mysssteries

By Amber Dance

Huge snakes, tiny snakes, poisonous snakes and constrictor snakes, snakes that slither, burrow or swim: New fossils and modern technology are tracing serpent origins

Collage shows a rodent, chemical stick figure of a drug of abuse, a woman and her brain, synapses, neurons.
The Mind

What addiction does to the brain

By Emma Yasinski

Changes in neural connections due to substance use and withdrawal are long-lasting, and craving can peak well into abstinence. Understanding this process could inspire drugs to support recovery.

A woman eats, surrounded by images of comfort food.
Food & Environment

Why we crave ‘comfort food’

Nostalgia plays a big role in the meals that bring us solace — which mean we might be able to recondition ourselves toward healthier foods that still soothe

By Debbie Koenig
Illustration shows a man standing in a forest and surveying outflow from power plant smokestacks in distance, tinged with red.
Food & Environment

The world has veered way off-target of its climate goals. Can we rebound?

Once global warming peaks, it could take centuries to cool things back down. But we can bend the curve by cutting fossil fuel emissions now.

By Nicola Jones
A woman rings a bell as medical workers cheer.
Health & Disease

Life after cancer treatment is different. So are the health needs.

By Lola Butcher

As the number of long-term survivors grows, doctors and patient advocates are working to improve post-cancer care

Three ants carrying cut bits of plants across a log
Living World

The crazy nests built by leaf-cutter ants

By Nala Rogers

Turrets and tunnels and carbon dioxide — oh my! These ants farm, but they are also master builders.

Three glass containers contain three kinds of loose-leaf tea.
Food & Environment

What’s the secret to a great cup of tea?

By Amber Dance

From where the Camellia sinensis bush is grown to whether the leaves are withered or fermented, much can influence the popular drink’s molecular and flavor profile

Black and white photograph shows a family group with one of the faces scratched out.
The Mind

The troubling rise of family estrangement

By Katherine Ellison

As more adults cut off their parents, a researcher calls for closer scrutiny of causes and effects, and suggests paths to reconciliation

Halifax harbor with smokestacks of a power plant in foreground.
Food & Environment

Stashing CO₂ in the sea

By Sandy Ong

Keeping global warming to manageable levels will require removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it somewhere else. The world’s oceans may be a promising option.

Colorful illustration shows RNA molecules of various shapes.
Living World

The silent majority: RNAs that don’t make proteins

Once considered cellular junk, non-coding RNAs are emerging as key players in everything from brain development to cancer — with much still to be discovered

By Christina Szalinski
A turtle swims out from a fishing net.
Food & Environment

How new fishing tech can reduce bycatch of turtles and other creatures

Nets equipped with water bottles and other tricks can help save some species, while allowing fisherman to still catch others

By Gennaro Tomma

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