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Biology

E.O. Wilson in his office at Harvard University

Remembering naturalist E.O. Wilson

Environment

We remember E.O. Wilson, one of the world’s leading naturalists who died on Dec. 26, 2021. “I like to call it, ‘one Earth, one experiment,'” he once said. “We’ve only got one shot at this. Let’s be careful.”

Ecologist Tom Lovejoy is being remembered for his decades of research and bringing people together to protect the Amazon rainforest and other ecosystems on the planet.

Remembering Tom Lovejoy, champion of biodiversity and the Amazon

Environment
People wearing face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 walk in downtown Lisbon

A COVID variant of concern or just another ‘scare-iant?’

COVID-19
Edward O. Wilson sitting in a chair in his office

E.O. Wilson’s lifelong passion for ants helped him teach humans about how to live sustainably with nature

Environment
People wearing different types of black and white clothes sit and stand among orange and yellow seats on the New York subway

New research can ‘fingerprint’ a city’s ecosystem to better understand the microbes within it

Science
Pointing at brain scans

Nature vs nurture debate is ‘totally dead in science,’ says neuroscientist

Science

Unlike smartphones, our mental hardware is tremendously changeable. Here’s how our remarkably nimble brains rewire themselves.

A yellow frog sits on a green leaf

This frog farm in Colombia is trying to put poachers out of business

Business

Treasures of Colombia breeds tiny amphibians, native to Colombian forests, for export to Europe and the US.

A woman stands in a lab wearing a face mask

Biology will play ‘a key role in the response to future crises,’ says health security scholar

Critical State

Translating science into policy has been challenging in the COVID-19 era. It is now critical to “expand biology expertise in government from the silos it is currently in to much more prominent policymaking roles,” says health security scholar Gigi Gronvall in conversation with Sam Ratner of the Critical State newsletter.

a close up of a man with a beard swabbing his mouth.

Home DNA tests reveal more than we bargained for

Science

Nobody really knows who will have access to our genetic data in the years to come. Here’s why that’s scary.

Looking up at the sky through plant leaves.

Plants can tell time even without a brain — here’s how

Science & Technology

Humans aren’t the only ones with internal clocks. New research shows that plants do too. Find out how plants can operate a circadian rhythm without a brain.

Latest Episode

Designing Life: Art Meets Synthetic Biology