Basic Research

These genes protect resilient water bears from radiation

By Nsikan Akpan

Researchers in Japan sequence the genome of the world's most extreme tardigrade to unlock the secrets of its survival.

Blue jeans have a 6,000 year-old Peruvian ancestor

By Leigh Anne Tiffany

Indigo dye for clothing is a lot older than the invention of blue jeans -- almost 6,000 years older, to be exact. The scientists behind the discovery say this blue scrap of fabric may rewrite the history of clothing.

Why Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, wears a red cap

By Leigh Anne Tiffany

Charon’s north pole has a dark red color, starkly different from its otherwise grey-white surface, and scientists have finally found out why.

Watch antibiotic-resistant bacteria evolve right before your eyes

By Lora Strum, Julia Griffin

It’s spreading! Scientists at Harvard Medical School in Boston and Technion-Israel have designed a way to document bacteria as the microbes become impervious to antibiotics.

Interactive: Lionfish invasion

By Megan Crigger

Once just an alluring pet, the ravenous lionfish is now a predatory threat to Atlantic reefs.

Aboard a boat that ferries scientists to Alaskan wildlife

By PBS News Hour

Every summer, the federal research vessel Tiglax travels along the chain of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, ferrying scientists to remote locations to study wildlife. The Aleutian archipelago is 1600 miles in length and constitutes an ecosystem of stunning diversity. Tiglax’s captain…

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Dogs distinguish words and tone much like humans

By Leigh Anne Tiffany

Dogs are able to process individual words and intonations in a manner similar to humans, based on a new study in the journal Science.

3.7 billion-year-old Greenland fossils are oldest yet, scientists say

By Harry Zahn

A newly discovered fossil from Greenland may represent the oldest known evidence of life on earth and could guide the search for life on moons or others planets in our solar system.