By creating mice with mixed-up taste sensors, scientists show how the taste system continually remakes itself.

Two 160-million-year-old mammal fossils discovered in China show that the forerunners of mammals in the Jurassic Period evolved to glide and live in trees. With long limbs, long hand and foot fingers, and wing-like membranes for tree-to-tree gliding, Maiopatagium furculiferum and Vilevolodon diplomylos are the oldest known gliders in the long history of early mammals.

There has been a substantial reduction in racial differences in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest, with a greater improvement in survival among black patients compared with white patients, according to a study.

Small, seemingly insignificant mutations in fruit flies may actually hold clues as to how a species will evolve tens of millions of years in the future.

The amount of time it takes for an ecosystem to recover from a drought is an important measure of a drought's severity. During the 20th century, the total area of land affected by drought increased, and longer recovery times became more common, according to new research published by Nature by a group of scientists including Carnegie's Anna Michalak and Yuanyuan Fang.

Radiocarbon dating of a fossilized leg bone from a Jamaican monkey called Xenothrix mcgregori suggests it may be the one of the most recent primate species anywhere in the world to become extinct, and it may solve a long-standing mystery about the cause of its demise. The short answer: human settlement of its island home.

A new discovery in Kenya of a remarkably complete fossil ape skull reveals what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like.

Manure is a reality in raising farm animals. Manure can be a useful fertilizer, returning valued nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the soil for plant growth. But manure has problems. Odor offensiveness, gas emissions, nutrient runoff, and possible water pollution are just a few. New methods may reduce these negatives while potentially adding some positives: biochar covers.

Researchers conducted a 3 year continuous high-speed imaging observation at Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska, USA, and identified the physics behind the flickering of aurora. At the same time, they discovered faster flickerings at speeds of 1/60-1/50 and 1/80 of a second.

Medical researchers are advising caution when treating blood pressure in some older people -- after results from a study contrasted with recent advice from the US, based on the SPRINT trial, to attempt to aggressively lower blood pressure in all adults to targets of 120mmHg.

X-rays helped scientists to look under the bonnet of two common bacteria that opportunistically infect people, so as to better understand the mechanics involved. The blueprints may be used to design new drugs, which are badly needed.

In the middle of the Chilean Atacama desert, a team of astronomers are monitoring millions of celestial bodies. In 2013, the team was surprised when they discovered, in the course of their survey, stars that pulsated much faster than expected. In the following years, the team studied these stars in more detail and concluded that they had stumbled upon a new class of variable star.

By combining two advanced microscope techniques scientists have managed to obtain new information about the ravaging mode of operation applied by malaria parasites when attacking their victims. This information can be utilized when designing new medication to more effectively fight malaria -- a disease claiming over 400,000 lives each year, a majority of whom are infants.

Unlike locusts and many other flying insects, cicadas don't soar through the air with the greatest of ease. Now in a study shows that certain chemical components in the insect's wings could explain why.

A significant development in understanding the brain: Scientists have, for the first time ever described the mushroom body connectome within the brain of fly larvae (Drosophila melanogaster) -- the circuit diagram of nerve cells.