Articles Tweeted

Newest Picks

Neanderthal culture: Old masters

The earliest known cave paintings fuel arguments about whether Neanderthals were the mental equals of modern humans. Spots and stencils in El Castillo cave, Spain — one at least 40,800 years old —…
LENGTH: 11 minutes (2991 words)

Invasive species: The 18-km

Invasive species: The 18-km2 rat trap Ecuador has successfully eradicated invasive pigs and goats from most of the Galapagos archipelago. Now it is taking on the rats. Carolyn Jenkins/Alamy The…
LENGTH: 10 minutes (2742 words)

Privacy protections: The genome hacker

Yaniv Erlich DANA SMITH Late at night, a video camera captures a man striding up to the locked door of the information-technology department of a major Israeli bank. At this hour, access can be…
LENGTH: 10 minutes (2503 words)

Public health: Polio's moving target

Mohammed Abubakar's home is not on any map — at least not yet. To reach his settlement in a desolate part of northern Nigeria, four health workers creep over deep-rutted roads in an old…
PUBLISHED: April 17, 2013
LENGTH: 8 minutes (2026 words)

Genetics: A gene of rare effect

ADAPTED FROM: PETER DAZELEY/GETTY When Sharlayne Tracy showed up at the clinical suite in the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas last January, the bandage wrapped around…
PUBLISHED: April 9, 2013
LENGTH: 13 minutes (3426 words)

Mapping brain networks: Fish-bowl neuroscience

A recently hatched zebrafish is swimming upriver for the first time. Its big round eyes, bulging on the front of its eyelash-sized body, scan the surroundings. Suddenly, it sees the scenery flying…
PUBLISHED: Jan. 23, 2013
LENGTH: 8 minutes (2248 words)

The science of cities: Life in the concrete jungle

Nathan Phillips steps out onto the roof of Boston's Prudential Tower and looks down at the city 50 stories below. Up here, the rush of the wind has replaced the cacophony of car horns, screeching…
PUBLISHED: Nov. 20, 2012
LENGTH: 6 minutes (1571 words)

Biology and ideology: The anatomy of politics

OLIVER MUNDAY A popular political advertisement from early this summer begins with US President Barack Obama addressing a crowd of moon-eyed supporters. Suddenly, the screen goes dark to a crescendo…
PUBLISHED: Oct. 24, 2012
LENGTH: 9 minutes (2314 words)

Stress and the city: Urban decay

R. MANSI/GETTY In 1965, health authorities in Camberwell, a bustling quarter of London's southward sprawl, began an unusual tally. They started to keep case records for every person in the area who…
PUBLISHED: Oct. 10, 2012
LENGTH: 8 minutes (2114 words)
}