The first all-female spacewalk in NASA's 61-year history is finally happening and will even take place a few days ahead of schedule. Astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, who were initially supposed to venture beyond the International Space Station on Oct. 21, are now slated to make their …

But after stupefying generations of researchers, Physarum polycephalum — “many-headed slime,” which may be a cooler name than “the blob” — is making its public debut Saturday at the Paris Zoological Park. “The blob is really one of the most extraordinary things on Earth today, but it’s been here for …

The lucky devils who thrive on just a few hours’ sleep may be benefiting from a gene mutation that increases wakefulness and keeps memory intact. In …

Studies suggest that epigenetics allows some learned adaptive responses to be passed down to new generations. The question is how. Rechavi says that …

The curious bursts of energy are born from massive storms and can radiate thousands of miles across continents. Below the rumble of passing cars, chirping birds, and rustling leaves, the Earth is constantly humming. This geologic symphony is driven by the ever-sloshing oceans that blanket nearly …

Scientists long assumed that new genes appear when evolution tinkers with old ones. It turns out that natural selection is much more creative. In the …

Experts will discuss ways to mitigate antibiotic resistance at an upcoming panel discussion. It's been almost a century since the discovery of penicillin kicked off the era of antibiotics. Over the decades, the germ-killing drugs have saved millions of lives by making it possible to eradicate …

While the number of species at a given location is staying relatively the same, who is present is changing fast Depending on how you frame it, the biodiversity crisis looks very different. At a global level, we're losing species at an unprecedented rate. It's estimated that organisms are going …

You probably picture robots as clodhoppers: ponderous, clunky, even doddery droids that need caffeine, badly. But robots are on the brink of making giant strides. Just ask Columbia University engineering professor Hod Lipson, who writes in Nature that “young animals gallop across fields, climb …

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists who resurrected a 50,000-year-old gene sequence have analyzed it to figure out how the world’s deadliest malaria parasite jumped from gorillas to humans - giving insight into the origins of one of human history’s biggest killers. The researchers said their work also …