This past summer, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) addressed the subject of origins in the five-part television series Evolution.1 Not too surprisingly, the possibility of supernatural creation was completely ignored. The United States Corporation for Public Broadcasting is in the process of airing these five episodes, with some possible variations from the BBC versions. The first United States episode, “Br... More...
The human heart does not beat like a perfect clock. The time between beats changes as the body breathes, moves, rests, and reacts to the world around it. New research shows that these changes are part of a feedback system linking the heart, brain, and nerves.1 The heart keeps a steady rhythm while remaining flexible when needed, much like a well-built control system.
Denis Noble has studied heart rhythm for many years.... More...
Blood vessels do more than carry blood. As tissue grows or heals, new vessels must form in the right place and direction, through a process called angiogenesis. Recent experiments with human endothelial cells show that mechanical force can help guide this growth. The findings reveal a responsive control system in which cells sense physical strain and adjust vessel growth without losing their basic function.1
Researcher... More...
The incredible hummingbird hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum), and other insects of the Lepidoptera order, continue to amaze entomologists.1,2 The hawkmoth has recently been studied in order to learn more about the sensory information used to control its long proboscis, a tubular protrusion that can be inserted into flowers like the beak and tongue of the hummingbird.
As scientists watched the insect feed from ... More...
An engineer can list every part in a system and still miss how it works. Think of a radio. Its parts matter, but so does the wiring that joins them. The same is true in living cells. A July 2026 study of immune cells found that cell function depends not only on genes and proteins, but also on how those parts are linked.
The study, published in Nature Communications, looked at T follicular helper (Tfh) cells. These immune c... More...
Native American oral tradition contains stories of sturgeon living for centuries. While this was largely seen as folklore among conventional scientists, a new study shows that lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the Great Lakes area can live over 200 years, with some approaching 300 years.1,2 This means some living lake sturgeon were likely alive at the time of the founding of the United States of America, 250 years ag... More...
The uncanny abilities of the honeybee cause entomologists to shake their heads in wonder.1,2
Scientists have long known that honeybees survive on nectar and pollen. More recently, researchers discovered that honeybees have a sophisticated nutritional process that transforms pollen into incredibly well-designed food for their larvae. They also found that honeybees have the ability to detect and correct when the balance ... More...
Most of us are familiar with the narwhal, a bizarre arctic mammal that sports a long, twisted tusk, earning the creature its nickname, the unicorn of the ocean. A cursory glance at the tusk reveals that it twists to the left. But there’s more to this spiraled structure than meets the eye.
Scientists used to think the tusk—which is really a tooth—was simply a straight protrusion that spiraled only to the left. He... More...