The Unseen Genome: Gems among the Junk

Just when scientists thought they had DNA almost figured out, they are discovering in chromosomes two vast, but largely hidden, layers of information that affect inheritance, development and disease

Why We Sleep

The reasons that we sleep are gradually becoming less enigmatic

Flying on Flexible Wings

Future aircraft may fly more like birds, adapting the geometries of their wings to best suit changing flight conditions

Stranger in a New Land

Stunning finds in the Republic of Georgia upend long-standing ideas about the first hominids to journey out of Africa

Stranger in a New Land: Digging Dmanisi

Stranger in a New Land: Overview / The First Colonizers

Stranger in a New Land: Skull Suprises

The Future of String Theory -- A Conversation with Brian Greene

The physicist and best-selling author demystifies the ultimate theories of space and time, the nature of genius, multiple universes, and more

An Army of Small Robots

For robot designers these days, small is beautiful

The Asteroid Tugboat

To prevent an asteroid from hitting Earth, a space tug equipped with plasma engines could give it a push