Advances

A system could aid forensic searches and crime-scene mapping by detecting reflections from human materials

There’s a structural reason your sponge hosts so many microbes

Energy stored in the front legs of gangly orb-weaving spiders helps them live to mate another day

They could find use as protective material, 3-D printer “ink” or longer-lasting batteries

A speck-sized beetle overturns assumptions about flight mechanics

In case you missed it

Chemical analysis and CT scanning reveal the identity of an ancient Egyptian

New work shows how grass could have developed its distinctive sheath

New studies reveal the complex world of bacterial epigenetics

A new method for monitoring proteins could lead to better drug development

How a switch in netting material changes what bat biologists discover

Toxic algae blooms found could have helped destabilize society