Reverse Engineer Living Solutions
September 20, 2013
Need solutions to practical engineering problems? Save time and effort; see how animals and plants do it.
VIEW HEADLINES ONLY
Understanding Jumping by Leaps and Bounds: Geared Insect and Leaping Plant
September 16, 2013
Two clever examples of leaping have been found in the living world, adding to the catalog of clever ways life gets around.
More Reasons to Love Plants
September 10, 2013
For food, for visual pleasure, and for the health of the whole planet, plants are worth loving and learning about.
Tiger in Oil and Other Surprising Fossils
September 9, 2013
Deposits in North and South America reveal a rich diversity of mammals discovered by oil workers, some fossils in the oil.
Shocking Facts About Electric Life
September 3, 2013
Talk about power plants: did you know plants use electricity? Some fish, also, can navigate or stun their prey using electrical organs.
What's a Hairy Wood Ant Good For?
August 31, 2013
A humble, rare ant might help humans learn how to communicate better with networks. It's just one of many ways nature is inspiring technology that approaches perfection.
Fearsome-Looking Terror Bird May Have Been Vegan
August 30, 2013
You can't judge a book by it's cover. In the same way, you can't assume a large extinct bird with a huge beak was a terror-raising predator.
Grand Canyon Demoted by New Discovery
August 29, 2013
A canyon longer than Grand Canyon has been discovered under the ice of Greenland. Scientists are surprised that it has persisted through the ice ages.
Stem Cell Science Can Proceed Ethically
August 19, 2013
With adult and induced pluripotent stem cells in abundance, it should not be necessary to destroy human embryos to understand stem cell science.
Secrets of Sight
August 16, 2013
The number of processes involved in eyesight continues to grow, adding more focus and clarity to the miracle of vision.
Discovering Mammals, Dead and Alive
August 15, 2013
Two mammal discoveries made the news this week: a cuddly one and a fossil. Do they tell evolutionary tales?
Invisible Influence of Plants Coming to Light
August 13, 2013
The air is filled with substances we barely notice – molecules produced by plants – but they have profound effects on climate and ecology.
More Reasons to Imitate Living Designs
August 11, 2013
The gold rush is on! Designs in the living world are inspiring technologies that are superior to old fashioned human ingenuity, and environmentally friendly, too.
Well, Duh; Adam and Eve Were Contemporaries
August 8, 2013
New genetic studies confirm the existence of a "Y-Chromosome Adam" and "Mitochondrial Eve" but, contrary to earlier analyses, place them in the same time frame.
More Evidence for Epigenetic Controls on Genetics
July 31, 2013
Epigenetics has become a hot topic in biology. There are players "above DNA"– some heritable – that may be more important than the genetic code itself.