Tiny bits of genetic material known as microRNAs help control how cells throughout the body produce proteins. And that may give these genetic bits an outsized role in health and…

Early October is an exciting time for science. It’s when the annual Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine are announced. These awards are widely considered the highest…

Stone Age (noun, “STONE age”) The Stone Age is the earliest of three periods in human history before written records. It started around 3.3 million years ago. That’s when people…

In Star Wars, pilots enter a dimension — hyperspace — to travel between different worlds. To merge onto this cosmic highway, the ships are equipped with special engines called hyperdrives.…

Even a microwave oven is not immune to bacteria. With microwave radiation bouncing around inside them, these ovens might seem a threatening place to microbes. But scientists have just turned…

Every second, cells throughout your body send out small electrical signals. Tiny jolts control your heartbeat. In your brain, cells use electricity to release chemicals that make you feel happy…

Our daily lives seem to run on electricity. Electric lights illuminate our rooms. Electric power runs our computers, microwave ovens, cell phones and countless features on our cars. When we…

Your heart beats about 100,000 times per day. That’s around 3 billion times over an average lifetime. Each beat pumps blood to the lungs, where it picks up oxygen. From…

Mayonnaise is useful for smearing on sandwiches and  prepping potato salads. But scientists are now using it to study nuclear fusion. How mayonnaise behaves can vary. If jiggled gently, it…

Simone Biles has nothing on this tiny backflipper. The globular springtail (Dicyrtomina minuta) is so small it could straddle the tip of a pencil. Yet this insect-like animal can vault…