Neuroscience
Mapping the Brain to Understand the Mind
New technology is enabling neuroscientists to make increasingly detailed wiring diagrams that could yield new insights into brain function
Stories by Knowable Magazine
Evolution
Urban Evolution: How Species Adapt to Survive in Cities
Evolution in cities illuminates long-standing scientific questions and climate change futures
Climate Change
Lyme and Other Tick-borne Diseases Are on the Rise—But Why?
The complex interplay of tick ecology, land use and climate may be enabling the spread of the pathogens the arachnids carry
Inequality
How Racism in Early Life Can Affect Long-Term Health
Excessive adversity activates biological reactions that can lead to lifelong problems in physical and mental well-being
Animals
The Ups and Downs of a Great Vertical Migration
Research is shedding light on why many water dwellers, from plankton to large fish, commute daily from the depths to the surface
Neurology
Could Mitochondria Be the Key to a Healthy Brain?
Some researchers suspect these bacterial ancestors living within our cells may contribute to a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders
EARTH
A Healthy Environment as a Human Right
U.N. recognition would strengthen legal arguments for preserving nature
Public Health
New Technologies Could Protect Against Arsenic Toxicity in Water
Filters in household faucets and genetic technology could help reduce this public health threat, biologist Rebecca Fry says
Medicine
Why It’s So Hard to Make Antiviral Drugs for COVID and Other Diseases
Antibiotics abound, but virus-fighting drugs are harder to come by. Fortunately, scientists are getting better at making and finding them
Space & Physics
Molecular Medicine Keeps Mice Mighty in Microgravity
An experimental gene treatment aboard the International Space Station demonstrates how rodents—and humans—might stay buff beyond Earth
Biology
The Science of Sourdough: How Microbes Enabled a Pandemic Pastime
Scientists peer into those jars on the kitchen counter to find out what’s really happening
Space & Physics
An Elemental Problem with the Sun
A decades-long dispute over how much carbon, nitrogen and oxygen lie within our closest star has implications for the entire universe
Health
Gut Microbes May Be Key to Solving Food Allergies
New therapeutics are testing whether protective bacteria can dampen harmful immune responses to food
Public Health
Social Media Posts and Online Searches Hold Vital Clues about Pandemic Spread
Such data offer valuable information and could help track the novel coronavirus—but they risk errors and raise privacy concerns
Space & Physics
Physicists Probe Validity of Einstein’s Gravity on Cosmic Scales
New tests could verify the general theory of relativity, or find flaws
Medicine
The Unexpected Diversity of Pain
It comes in many types that each require specialized treatment, and scientists are learning to diagnose different varieties
Evolution
The Weapons of Sexual Rivalry
Male competition and female preferences have driven arms races for the flashiest horns, antlers, pincers, tusks and claws
Electronics
GPS Is Doing More Than You Thought
Here are five scientific applications that take the navigation system beyond the map
Evolution
How Monarch Butterflies Evolved to Eat a Poisonous Plant
By engineering mutations into fruit flies, scientists reconstructed how the bright orange butterflies came to tolerate milkweed toxins
Neuroscience
Is “Neurolaw” Coming Soon to a Courtroom Near You?
Neuroscience is closing in on states of mind the legal system cares about: memory, responsibility and mental maturity
