![Sourdough under the microscope reveals microbes cultivated over generations in green, red and purple shapes.](jpg/sourdough_noscale_1c72e.jpg)
See What Gives Sourdough Its Distinctive Taste and Smell
You can thank yeast and bacteria cultivated over generations for the distinctive taste and smell of the oldest leavened bread in history
See What Gives Sourdough Its Distinctive Taste and Smell
You can thank yeast and bacteria cultivated over generations for the distinctive taste and smell of the oldest leavened bread in history
China’s Population Could Shrink to Half by 2100
Is China’s future population drop a crisis or an opportunity?
Can You Eat Cicadas? Can Your Dog Do So?
Here’s what a chef, a vet and two anthropologists have to say about eating periodical cicadas
We Are in the Golden Age of Bird-Watching
There has never been a better time to be or become a birder
How Sugar Gliders Got Their Wings
Several marsupial species, including sugar gliders, independently evolved a way to make membranes that allow them to glide through the air
Glow-in-the-Dark Animals May Have Been Around for 540 Million Years
Ancestors of so-called soft corals may have developed bioluminescence in the earliest days of deep-ocean living
This Nearly 50-Foot Snake Was One of the Largest to Slither the Earth
Fossilized vertebrae that were found in an Indian coal mine belonged to a gigantic and previously unknown snake species
The Evolution of a Big, Ugly Cry
Uncontrollable sobbing is uniquely human, and it may be our emotions running out of our faces, a way to connect us with other people
Fiddler Crabs Unleash Special Vibrations to Attract Mates—And Deter Foes
Social context shapes how fiddler crabs communicate by vibrating the ground underneath their burrows
Everyone Will Have Fewer Relatives in the Future
Changing demographics mean shrinking families and more older relatives in future decades
This Tiny Fish Makes an Ear-Blasting Screech for Love
A rice-grain-size fish screams louder than a jackhammer—and we have a lot to learn from its minuscule brain
Why Feathers Are One of Evolution’s Cleverest Inventions
Fossil and living birds reveal the dazzling biology of feathers