Features1827 articles archived since 1845

Biotech's First Musical Instrument Plays Proteins Like Piano Keys [Slide Show]

A biophysicist and composer have banded together to create a music box that turns biology into sound

Farming a Toxin to Keep Crops Healthy

Genetically modified crops that produce the pest-killing toxin Bt increase yields and reduce the use of noxious chemical insecticides. But like any powerful tool, they must be used responsibly...

Protecting Your Privates: 5 Techniques for Maintaining Web Confidentiality

There are ways to protect personal information while still enjoying much of what the Web has to offer

An Invertebrate Detective Reveals the Secrets of Creepy Crawlers in the High Arctic [Slide Show]

Spineless wonders inhabiting a remote Arctic Ocean archipelago may have hitched a ride on the backs of birds

How to Love a Whale Shark

Every year thousands of tourists descend on congregations of the world’s largest fish. What is the cost of all that attention?

Sweeping Change in Phytoplankton Populations Could Remake Oceans

Half of phytoplankton species—the foundation of marine food chains—could be replaced by new species by 2100

Ex-USAF Chief Scientist Likens U.S. Cybersecurity Challenge to Whac-A-Mole

Mark Maybury holds forth on fending off cyber attackers, keeping humans in the loop during drone missions and outfitting pilots with computerized Band-Aids

Touching a Nerve: Exploring the Implications of the Self as Brain, Part 2 [Excerpt]

Philosopher Patricia Churchland looks at aggressive impulses and sex through the lens of neuroscience and evolutionary theory

Touching a Nerve: Exploring the Implications of the Self as Brain, Part 1 [Excerpt]

Philosopher Patricia Churchland looks at aggressive impulses and sex through the lens of neuroscience and evolutionary theory

Fermilab: High Energy Physics on the Prairie [Slide Show]

The Tevatron shut in 2011, but particles still fly for science outside Chicago

Where Are the Anti-People? [Excerpt]

Physicist Dave Goldberg breaks down the mysteries of the cosmos in his new book The Universe in the Rearview Mirror. In an excerpt, Goldberg explores the matter-antimatter divide

A Tale of 7 Elements: Element 85—Astatine [Excerpt]

The identity of the "discoverer" of this halogen element very much depends on the nationality of the textbook that one might consult

The Science of Education: Back to School

Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet [Excerpt, Part 4]

Spammers deploy malware to hijack unwary machines and use them as purveyors of junk messaging. Read this last installment about how the history of the Internet coincides with the history of spam...

Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet [Excerpt, Part 3]

Porous barriers to various forms of electronic intrusion are traversed by either menial human labor or automated botnets. Read about this carnival of oddities in the third excerpt of a chapter on the riveting history of spam...