The Secrets of the X Chromosome
Most people know that the X chromosome is one of the two sex chromosomes. But it does more than just determine if you're born male or female.
The Platypus Is Even Weirder Than You Thought
Platypuses. They’re weird. In fact, platypuses are so unusual that it took taxonomists more than eighty years just to decide what they are.
Why Deleting Facebook isn’t the Answer to Data-Driven Targeting
We have to become smarter news and advertising consumers, and learn to resist the unceasing stream of slanted messages that come our way.
Would You Like Phthalates with That?
People who like dining out have 40 to 55 percent higher phthalate levels than those who eat at home.
Fighting Bacterial Infection With…Viruses?
As bacteria develop resistance to widely-used antibiotics, some researchers are turning to bacteria’s natural enemy: a very special virus called a bacteriophage.
Volcanoes, Climate Change, and The Birth of Christianity
The massive, deadly eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eldgjá in 10th century brought climate change and Christianity to the island colony.
The Evolution of the Microscope
The first compound microscopes date to 1590, but it was the Dutch Antony Van Leeuwenhoek in the mid-seventeenth century who first used them to make discoveries.
When Scientists Perform Experiments on Themselves
More than one self-experiment has resulted in a Nobel Prize. Against all odds, and sometimes in spite of the damage they cause, these crazy gambits pay off.
The Earliest Stars
Astronomers who noticed a slight blip in space's background radiation got an insight not just into the early stars but into the age and nature of the early universe.
Charles Knowlton, the Father of American Birth Control
Decades after Charles Knowlton died, his book would be credited with the reversal of population growth in England and the popularization of contraception in the United States.