Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine’s Abstractions blog.By studying a swarm of flying midges as though it were a fluid, physicists have learned how collective behaviors…

Living in the flat, arid landscape of the Kalahari, meerkats are one of the most cooperative species of mammal on the planet. The scarcity of food and few places to hide from predators…

The act of recalling something that happened to you looks very much like what happens when you imagine something new.Photograph by HBRH / ShutterstockImagine a living room. Not yours…

The interconnection of the world is a wonder. Consider the United States Declaration of Independence, says Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, a conservation biologist. It was written with the…

Microbiome metaphors influence scientific understanding and can shape medical treatment.Illustration by vrx / ShutterstockAre you an ecosystem? Your mouth, skin, and gut are home to…

Scientists are exploring how jellyfish could be used as a greater source of food, in medicine and nutraceuticals.Photograph by Pixabay / silverstrike24A few summers ago, Stefano Piraino…

The 19th-century physicist Hermann von Helmholtz compared his progress in solving a problem to that of a mountain climber “compelled to retrace his steps because his progress stopped.”…

What is it about storytelling that gets people so riled up when they feel it goes wrong? Perhaps the fury stems from the evolutionary burden stories, and storytellers, have had to…

The potential for undying tyrants or tyrannical bodies is one reason Leonard Hayflick, one of the world’s preeminent experts on aging (he was a founder of the Council of the National…

How could the same species evolve more than once?Photograph by Janos Rautonen / FlickrYou may have heard the news of what sounds like a resurrection story on the small island of Aldabra,…