Biology Articles

The Polar icecaps are melting, but is the news all bad?

The tiny plants that inhabit the ocean (phytoplankton) have developed a remarkable mechanism to protect themselves from...

Do you find it harder to learn and adapt to new things than you once did? Do you find you're more forgetful than...

If a doctor offered you live eggs from a parasitic worm to treat your medical complaints, would you accept? Whipworms...

Cutting-edge research in epigenetics - the ways in which the environment can affect the behavior of genes - is changing...

Can I catch infectious diseases from my dog? And can they catch infections from me?

A genetic screen tells your doctor knows you are at increased risk of getting cancer. You’d want to know, right? Or...

Chicken eggs can be turned into incubators to produce disease-combating antibodies against human infections...

Parasitic worms that live in our intestines are currently being tested as medical treatments for diseases such as...

And has life evolved elsewhere in the Solar System too?

Toby Fountain does something rather strange when he checks into a hotel: bags deposited unopened at the room's...

Over the last 40 years, drugs have been developed that, as well as performing their original purpose of helping those...

Less than 5% of the nitrogen added to crops to feed animals ends up as meat in our mouths. The rest is wasted and...

The psychedelic drug psilocybin, the active principal of magic mushrooms, was once thought to have promising medical...

Ocean deadzones are triggered by nitrogen-fuelled bursts of microorganisms. So how does this happen and what can we do...

In September 2010, the BBC reported an “Urgent call on EU to stop billion-euro 'alien invasion'”. But for...

Disruption of the nitrogen cycle can wreak havoc on ocean ecosystems for which oxygen is in short supply. Robin...

Everyone can contribute to the work of scientists. Harriet Dickinson explains how you can get involved, and why Science...

Dating codes are placed on food to indicate the food is safe to eat before this date. But how are these dates decided,...

It’s pretty easy to get lost when you venture deep into the Jungle of Lambusango on the Isle of Buton, just off the...

Barnacles and mussels have an intimate relationship, but are they welcome house guests or uninvited squatters?

Rare genetic mutations have been known to abolish pain, or to cause permanent agony. But what if subtle differences in...

Imagine a shoal of fish 15 kilometres long, 3.5 kilometres wide and 40 metres deep...

The seabed is surprisingly clean considering the amount of waste, both natural and man-made, that gets dumped in the...