Eye on the Fly
The tiny fruit fly has been beloved by developmental biologists for more than a century. Turing patterns may yet explain its shape.
Browsing Tag
Mosaic
52 posts
When Biology and Math Collide
Biology and mathematics—the practical and the theoretical—can be surprisingly uneasy bedfellows, but their union could help uncover the mysteries of life.
How the Zebra Got Its Stripes and the Leopard Its Spots
Where do a zebra’s stripes, a leopard’s spots, and our fingers come from? The key was found years ago—by the man who cracked the Enigma code.
Thoughts That Can’t Be Thought and Ideas That Can’t Be Formed: The Promise of Smart Drugs
Are we asking the right questions about smart drugs? Marek Kohn looks at what they can do for us—and what they can’t.
DIY Diagnosis: How an Extreme Athlete Uncovered Her Genetic Flaw
When Kim Goodsell discovered that she had two extremely rare genetic diseases, she taught herself genetics to help find out why.
Arrested Development: The Girls Who Never Seem to Age
The notion that aging is a natural, inevitable part of life is so fixed in our culture that we rarely question it. But biologists have been questioning it for a long time.
The Mirror Man: Treating Phantom Limb Pain With a Very Simple Technology
Phantom pain, experienced in missing limbs, tortures amputees and puzzles scientists. Srinath Perur cycles around Cambodia with a man who treats it with mirrors.
Why Do We Have Blood Types?
More than a century after their discovery, we still don’t really know what blood types are for. Do they really matter?
Can Meditation Really Slow Aging?
Is there real science in the spiritualism of meditation? Jo Marchant meets a Nobel Prize-winner who thinks so.
Blackness Ever Blackening: My Lifetime of Depression
How do I explain an existence dominated by the bleakest, darkest moods? And do I even want to?