Quest to Use CRISPR Against Disease Gains Ground
As the first clinical trial results trickle in, researchers look ahead to more sophisticated medical applications for genome editing
Biology12421 articles archived since 1845
Coronavirus Can Infect Cats
Tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo have tested positive for the virus, and studies show that house cats—but apparently not dogs—can become infected.
![Travel Down a Borehole into Antarctica's Lake Whillans [Video]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/blogs/cache/file/A85FD7DD-260B-434A-8F721848AA7B0D60_agenda.jpg?w=275&h=154&fit=crop)
Travel Down a Borehole into Antarctica’s Lake Whillans [Video]
Beautiful new footage ventures into a lake that is among the most remote on earth
COVID-19: The Need for Secure Labs—and Their Risks
Coronavirus research requires high-containment labs. Journalist Elisabeth Eaves talks with Scientific American contributing editor W. Wayt Gibbs about her article “The Risks of Building Too Many Bio Labs,” a joint project of the New Yorker and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists ...
Note to Polluters: Salmon Are Sensible Fish
Originally published in July 1857
Coronavirus Disrupts Vital Field Research—Including Disease Transmission Work
Scientists across the globe have been cut off from sites and experimental resources—or stranded abroad
Squid’s Glowing Skin Patterns May Be Code
Humboldt squid can rapidly change the pigmentation and luminescence patterns on their skin by contracting and relaxing their muscles, possibly to communicate.
Cats Can Get Coronavirus, Study Suggests—but Pet Owners Need Not Panic
Scientists say it is unclear whether felines can spread the virus to people
City Birds: Big-Brained with Few Offspring or Small-Brained with a Lot
To make it in urban areas, birds tend to be either large-brained and able to produce few offspring or small-brained and extremely fertile. In natural habitats, most birds brains are of average size...
Coyotes Eat Everything from Fruits to Cats
The diets of coyotes vary widely, depending on whether they live in rural, suburban or urban environments—but pretty much anything is fair game.
Cooped Up at Home? Help Scientists Spot Penguins from Space or Seek Out Galaxies
Some citizen science projects can be done during quarantine
Antarctic Fish Is a Blood Doping Champion
To remain active in frigid environments, the bald notothen drastically adjusts oxygen in its blood
Tiny Wormlike Creature May Be Our Oldest Known Ancestor
The bilateral organism crawled on the seafloor, taking in organic matter at one end and dumping the remains out the other some 555 million years ago.
Science News Briefs from around the Planet
Here are a few brief reports about science and technology from around the planet, including one about the discovery of an intact chicken egg dating to Roman Britain.
Could Newly Found “Peacekeeping” Cells Be a Weapon against COVID-19?
In mice, these white blood cells tamp down inflammation in the lungs
![Feast Your Eyes on Australia's Newly Explored Depths [Video]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/blogs/cache/file/1EC5023D-6014-415B-94BF48FADDDBD038_agenda.jpg?w=275&h=154&fit=crop)
Feast Your Eyes on Australia’s Newly Explored Depths [Video]
Take a few moments to enjoy stalked barnacles, googly-eyed glass squid and other oddities of the deep, where it is cold, dark and 100 percent coronavirus free
A Quest for the Genetic Fountain of Youth
The study of long-lived mammals can help scientists understand why humans age
Sick Vampire Bats Restrict Grooming to Close Family
When vampire bats feel sick, they still engage in prosocial acts such as sharing food with nonrelatives. But they cut back on grooming anyone other than their closest kin.
Genetically Engineering the Perfect Bee—in 1892
Originally published in August 1892
Exponential Infection Increases Are Deadly Serious
Listen in as I use two calculators to track the difference in numbers of infections over a short period of time, depending on how many people each infected individual infects on average...
