The socially constructed racial categories we’ve inherited are only crude and highly imperfect maps of biological variation, with borders shifting, and even evaporating, depending on how geneticists analyze the data. What group-level truths, if any, can be gleaned from our most basic genetic building blocks?

Conversations about famed scientists who held troubling views on race often devolve into acrimonious circuses of accusation and defense. Then the issue vanishes and we move on, no one any smarter, no issues resolved. An evolutionary biologist argues that as a society, we can do much better.

How does your phone know it's you when you use facial recognition to unlock it? An array of tiny lasers light up your face, and your phone uses the reflection to construct a 3D model—not unlike a topographical map of your face. The phone's software then uses this to decide whether to unlock.

Iron is a critical micronutrient for the survival of plants and humans, yet too much iron can also be toxic. An interdisciplinary research team from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has discovered that the protein PATELLIN2 is not only involved in regulating iron levels in plants.

If you thought Australia was home to only one ancient "giant wombat," think again.

All seven of the United States' abalone species that live on the West Coast are now listed as Critically Endangered or Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, Red List of Threatened Species. These listings were based on a West Coast abalones assessment led by Laura-Rogers Bennett of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, or CDFW, and University of California, Davis.

In a forward-looking article, George Church, Ph.D., from Harvard University and the Wyss Institute, proposes the use of picogram to nanogram-scale probes that can land, replicate, and produce a communications module at the destination to explore nearby stars. The new article is published in a special issue on "Interstellar Objects in Astrobiology" of Astrobiology.

A new report on the ethics of crossing species boundaries by inserting human cells into nonhuman animals—research surrounded by debate—makes recommendations clarifying the ethical issues and calling for improved oversight of this work.

When asked to sign their name, comb their hair, or use a pair of scissors, most humans prefer to use one hand over the other. But being left-handed or right-handed—handedness—is a trait found not just in people. Many molecules, especially organic molecules, exhibit handedness as well.

UC Santa Cruz has played a leading role in a multi-agency group working for the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force to provide guidance on the development of coral reef restoration proposals for federal hazard mitigation funding.

Nature uses 20 canonical amino acids as building blocks to make proteins, combining their sequences to create complex molecules that perform biological functions.

Getting a spacecraft to the moon or Mars is quite literally rocket science. While rocket science helps deliver the spacecraft to the moon, other areas of science are needed to sustain life and enable activities during trips to the moon and while on the lunar surface. Experiments aboard the International Space Station serve as the basis for much of that science and are helping lay a foundation for the Artemis missions.

NASA's Lunar Flashlight has communicated with mission controllers and confirmed it is healthy after launching Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2:38 a.m. EST (Saturday, Dec. 10, at 11:38 p.m. PST) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. About 53 minutes after launch, the small satellite, or SmallSat, was released from its dispenser to begin a four-month journey to the moon to seek out surface water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar South Pole.

Zoologist Professor Rainer Willmann, former Director of the Zoological Museum at the University of Göttingen, has described and classified previously unknown species of scorpionflies from Nepal. These species belong to a completely new genus, for which Willmann has introduced the name "Lulilan." His paper was published in the journal Contributions to Entomology.

In this era of rampant misinformation, the role of fact-checkers is becoming increasingly important. Yet, the practice is relatively understudied. Research from the University of Kansas has analyzed how fact-checkers in four countries practice the craft in relation to the contentious issue of climate change. In addition to finding that fact-checkers across the world have different approaches, the researchers suggest the most effective ways to approach the practice to provide accurate, reliable and easy to understand information to the public.

Researchers from the University of Auckland calculated that 74 metric tons of microplastics are dropping out of the atmosphere onto the city annually, the equivalent of more than 3 million plastic bottles falling from the sky.

New research from the University of Washington shows that signals from the upper atmosphere could improve tsunami forecasting, and someday, help track ash plumes and other impacts after a volcanic eruption.

PCR swab tests that look for viral RNA have become the gold standard for identifying infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but their results aren't 100% accurate. This week in mSystems, researchers report that testing for levels of certain immune-related genes in an infected individual, in addition to looking for genetic material of the virus itself, could increase diagnostic accuracy.

Facilitating interactions between a plant's roots and its external environment is key to tackling various impending food, energy, and sustainability related challenges. For example, plants with modified root architecture can reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, or even increase crop yields to sustain the growing human population.

A new type of active pixel sensor that uses a novel two-dimensional material may both enable ultra-sharp cellphone photos and create a new class of extremely energy-efficient Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

A beating heart, a complicated organ that pumps blood around the body of animals and humans, is not exactly something you associate with a Petri dish in a laboratory.

The ever-diverse fungi play several key roles in our day-to-day life. From facilitating ecological nutrient cycling, to being used in industrial manufacturing and being a key ingredient in our food, fungi wear many different hats. Among all fungal species, yeasts are the best-studied and easiest to domesticate by humans.

Analysis of teeth of extinct lemurs has revealed fascinating clues to the evolution of humans, a University of Otago study has found.

There has been significant interest in photonics over the last decade due to their prospects in creating functional devices both for near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths. Optical modulators are crucial photonic circuits that enable signal switching and routing, data encoding, phase-sensitive detection, and spectroscopic interrogation. For NIR modulators, various types of materials have spurred a large number of research projects.

A new study by Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion Universities reveals a phenomenon of "chivalrous sexism" towards women in need. According to the study, about 2 out of 3 men (62%) would be willing to help a woman in distress whose house burned down—but fewer men (45%) would donate money to a woman whose business burned down.