Stories by Ferris Jabr

Flight of the Squid

New photos offer the best evidence yet of mollusk aeronautics

The Power of Sniff

A new device lets the disabled move and communicate with their noses

Calling All Predators: Caterpillar Saliva May Be a Component in Plants' Chemical Alarms

As a tobacco hornworm feasts on a plant, it alters the volatile chemicals emitted by the leaves, thereby betraying its location to natural enemies

Light Diet: Eating Food without Seeing It May Impede Ability to Judge Hunger

When you cannot see what you are eating, you lose your ability to accurately evaluate satiety

Paper Wasps Punish Phonies*

A new study suggests wasps bully peers that misrepresent their fighting abilities

A New Form of Chlorophyll?

Researchers discover evidence for a new type of chlorophyll in cyanobacteria that can absorb near-infrared light

Sniff Test: Bacteria May Have a Primordial Sense of Smell

A study suggests that bacterial colonies can detect and respond to airborne ammonia

Changing Minds: Has Selective Breeding Restructured Some Dog Brains?

A new study suggests dog breeding by humans has altered brain structure and position in short-skulled canines, possibly diminishing their olfactory abilities

2 of a Kind: Studies Reveal New Insights into the Psychology of Gambling

Two new gambling studies redefine the "poker face" and peer inside the betting brain, helping researchers understand risk-taking behavior and decision-making

Gleaning the Gleam: A Deep-Sea Webcam Sheds Light on Bioluminescent Ocean Life

With help from a special Webcam, a marine biologist exposes undersea bioluminescence and helps illuminate the shady world of deep-sea life

Fact or Fiction: Can a Squid Fly out of Water?

To escape predators in the ocean, these cephalopods will speed away by shooting a jet of water. But can squid use that behavior to take to the air and control their trajectories?

Follow Your Nose: Sniff Controller Gives the Severely Disabled a New Way to Communicate and Move

A new device allows profoundly paralyzed people to communicate, surf the Web and guide a wheelchair using only their breath

Self-Fulfilling Fakery: Feigning Mental Illness Is a Form of Self-Deception

By pretending to be sick, people can convince themselves they really are

Cortical Call Out: The Brain's Electric Field Creates a Feedback Loop That Synchronizes Neural Activity

In a positive feedback loop the electric fields generated in the brain affect the behavior of the neurons that produce them

Fire hydrant hydration: How to cool off responsibly

When a summer heat wave engulfs New York City, people seek the soothing embrace of water in whatever way they can: they swarm the neighborhood swimming pool; they visit the beach at Coney Island; they take multiple showers...

A Magnetic Remote Control That Can Rewind a Worm's Wriggle

Researchers use heated magnetic nanoparticles to manipulate nerve cells and control simple behavior in nematodes

Plants cannot "think and remember," but there's nothing stupid about them: They're shockingly sophisticated

New research shows that plants "can think and remember," according to a news story published this week.

Plants can transmit information "from leaf to leaf in a very similar way to our own nervous systems," BBC News wrote...

California Legislators’ Effort to Prevent Student DNA Testing Could Come Too Late

A new bill is designed to halt the University of California, Berkeley’s controversial genetic testing project

Mongoose mentors teach traditions through imitation

Exposing the Student Body: Stanford Joins U.C. Berkeley in Controversial Genetic Testing of Students

Heated debate surrounds the ethics of the universities' decisions to analyze student DNA