
Electronic Pathogens
The first computer virus spawned an arms race in software

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Electronic Pathogens
The first computer virus spawned an arms race in software

All In The Family
What persuaded the male hominid to stick around after mating?

Cheese Story
Swiss dairy farmers created an American institution

Is Sex Really Necessary?
Most living things do it, but nobody knows why

On the Parasite's Trail
Scientists have traced malaria to its first human victims a mere 10,000 years ago

Before Mickey Mouse
The inspiration for today's animated pictures began long ago with dreams and toys

Snap, Crackle, Bang
The ancient Chinese invented fireworks to scare off 10-foot-tall mountain men

Scrubs
A rise in maternity ward deaths led one physician to discover the importance of hand washing

Thorny Fence
The invention of barbed wire was a huge commercial success--and the subject of furious legal battles

Moral Animal
A sense of right and wrong starts with innate brain circuitry

Former Life of the Electric Car
A century ago taxicabs had batteries, not gas guzzlers, under their hoods

Urban Bug
Packed living conditions made the influenza virus a leading public health threat

Gravity's Tug
The first black holes are almost as old as the universe itself

The First Humvee
Wheeled vehicles may have first arisen as a tool of war

Zero
How nothing became something

Noodling the Noodles
It took thousands of years to go from mush to spaghetti

Rainbow Cells
Biodiversity was the first step toward complex life

Filming the Invisible in 4-D
Picture this: a movie revealing the inner workings of a cell or showing a nanomachine in action. A new microscopy is making such imaging possible

'Super-Earths': Could They Harbor Life?
The night skies are littered with distant planets, but what are they really like? Theoretical models suggest that a surprising number of "exoplanets" could be similar to Earth—and may even support life

Origins: Going Back to Where the Story Really Starts
Sometimes we forget where a story really starts. Are electric cars new? Where did malaria start? Who invented spaghetti? Read on, for the surprising origins of many strange and familiar things

Robot Pills
A voyage through the human body is no longer mere fantasy. Tiny devices may soon perform surgery, administer drugs and help diagnose disease

Plastic Surf: The Unhealthful Afterlife of Toys and Packaging
Small remnants of toys, bottles and packaging persist in the ocean, harming marine life and possibly even us

The Hacker in Your Hardware: The Next Security Threat
As if software viruses weren't bad enough, the microchips that power every aspect of our digital world are vulnerable to tampering in the factory. The consequences could be dire

How Acidification Threatens Oceans from the Inside Out
Carbon dioxide emissions are making the oceans more acidic, imperiling the growth and reproduction of species from plankton to squid

When the Sea Saved Humanity
Shortly after Homo sapiens arose harsh climate conditions nearly extinguished our species. Recent finds suggest that the small population that gave rise to all humans alive today survived by exploiting a unique combination of resources along the southern coast of Africa