The introduction of agriculture into Europe about 8,500 years ago changed the way people lived right down to their DNA.
Biotechnology
Nov 23, 2015
0
1052
Tremendous controversy erupted in early 2014 when two papers published in Nature described how a technique called "stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency," or STAP, could quickly and efficiently turn ordinary cells ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 23, 2015
0
350
Harvesting sunlight is a trick plants mastered more than a billion years ago, using solar energy to feed themselves from the air and water around them in the process we know as photosynthesis.
Materials Science
Feb 9, 2015
3
1906
The creation of genetically modified and entirely synthetic organisms continues to generate excitement as well as worry.
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 21, 2015
3
759
When it comes to genitalia, nature enjoys variety. Snakes and lizards have two. Birds and people have one. And while the former group's paired structures are located somewhat at the level of the limbs, ours, and the birds', ...
Evolution
Nov 5, 2014
2
0
The setting: Europe, about 7,500 years ago. Agriculture was sweeping in from the Near East, bringing early farmers into contact with hunter-gatherers who had already been living in Europe for tens of thousands of years.
Archaeology
Sep 17, 2014
10
5
Everything about hummingbirds is rapid. An iridescent blur to the human eye, their movements can be captured with clarity only by high-speed video.
Evolution
Aug 21, 2014
0
0
In two parallel projects, researchers have created new genomes inside the bacterium E. coli in ways that test the limits of genetic reprogramming and open new possibilities for increasing flexibility, productivity and safety ...
Biotechnology
Oct 17, 2013
1
0
For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...
Biochemistry
Feb 12, 2012
29
0
Ancient humans may not have had the luxury of updating their Facebook status, but social networks were nevertheless an essential component of their lives, a new study suggests.
Social Sciences
Jan 25, 2012
1
2
