Biology Articles

Articles about biology, genetics, ecology and evolution, insects, mammals, marine science, plants and zoology...

16 September 2013

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

25 July 2013

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

12 July 2013

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

30 April 2013

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

20 April 2013

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

16 March 2013

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

16 October 2012

And has life evolved elsewhere in the Solar System too?

20 September 2012

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

10 September 2012

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

14 August 2012

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

21 June 2012

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

18 February 2012

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

17 January 2012

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

25 November 2011

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

14 November 2011

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

07 November 2011

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

27 September 2011

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

09 September 2011

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

02 August 2011

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

03 May 2011

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

10 March 2011

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

01 March 2011

In Lewis Carroll’s "Through the Looking-Glass", The Red Queen tells Alice that she has to run as quickly as...

25 February 2011

Microbial warfare is constantly happening all around us, and often humans can reap the benefits if the right bacteria...

12 February 2011

Southern right whales live in the southern oceans that surround Antarctica. In the winter, they move north, settling in...