Science
The Answer to Zika May Be More Mosquitos
Insects that have been implanted with a virus-blocking bacterium will finally be tested at large scales, over two cities in Brazil and Colombia.
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J. F. Broekhuis How the Mouse Got Its Stripes
A simple study of rodent patterns hints at our growing ability to link genetic changes to physical ones.
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Amy Forliti / AP The ‘Sioux Chef’ Reviving Native American Cuisine
Native chefs and farmers are bringing back lost flavors in hopes of fighting diabetes and obesity.
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Jon Nazca / Reuters Climate Change Could Transform Southern Spain Into Desert
The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees of global warming might be dramatic.
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Reuters When a President Banishes Science From the White House
Since the 1950s, presidential science advisors have juggled researchers’ and politicians’ demands—except when Nixon abolished his administration’s entire Science Advisory Committee.
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Jim Urquhart / Reuters How the Concept of Deep Time Is Changing
The idea that humans are ephemeral compared to the workings of nature isn’t as persuasive as it once was.
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Finbarr O'Reilly / Reuters DNA Reveals That Chimps and Bonobos Had Sex in the Past
Their prehistoric liaisons mirror those between our own ancestors, Neanderthals, and other groups of early humans.
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Marta Iwanek / Quanta Magazine Uncovering Cells' Hidden Genetic Scaffolding
A 17-years-long study reveals how the complex relationships between a cell’s genes allow it to function.
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NIAID How One Man Was Wrongly Blamed for Bringing AIDS to America
HIV arrived in the U.S. from Haiti a decade before the first cases were identified—and well before the so-called Patient Zero contracted the virus.
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Fernando Soley The Bug That Stalks Spiders on Their Own Webs
It walks stealthily, slices through defenses, and cloaks itself in wind.
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Xiaolong Wang Would You Buy a Genetically-Engineered Cashmere Sweater?
Scientists in China have used CRISPR to make a modified goat that produces more of the fine wool.
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Amy Sussman / AP Why Bigfoot Sightings Are So Common Across Cultures
Visions of hairy “man-apes” speak to something deep in the human psyche.
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Reuters Memory Lane Has a Three-Way Fork
Three different parts of the brain control how successfully, accurately, and vividly we remember past events.
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Matthew Jacobs Why Do These Plants Have Metallic Blue Leaves?
Ooh, shiny.
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Benjamin Grant / Daily Overview / Amphoto Books ... The Awesomeness of Earth from Above
Can satellite images of our planet's varied terrain make humanity's impact apparent?
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Kim Kyung Hoon / Reuters Pikachu Has Hijacked Your Brain’s Reward System
The yellow Pokémon captures attention by exploiting a neural bias towards cuteness, sugar content, and other rewards.
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Erik de Castro / Reuters What a Legless Mouse Tells Us About Snake Evolution
Engineering animals with CRISPR can help biologists to understand the genes behind some of evolution’s most dramatic changes.
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David Gray / Reuters Media Coverage of a Mammal Extinction Missed the Point
While climate change didn’t help, human inaction ultimately allowed the species to die.
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T. Falótico Rock-Smashing Monkeys Unintentionally Make Sharp Stone Tools
What this says—and doesn’t say—about the evolution of human technology
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Scott Olson / Getty / Iakov Filimonov / ... Donald Trump Is the First Demagogue of the Anthropocene
He won’t be the last.
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Regis Duvignau / Reuters We Are in the Golden Age of Oysters
But climate change could end it.
