Posts by Robert Sanders

a symmetric, oblong object covered with tiny patches of gray and bubble-gum yellows, blues, oranges and reds

Mind & body

Researchers simulate an entire fly brain on a laptop. Is a human brain next?

By digitally mapping the whole brain of a fruit fly, scientists hope to gain insight into human brain disorders

a silvery Earth in the foreground with a bright white ball in the distance

Research

This rocky planet around a white dwarf resembles Earth — 8 billion years from now

man seated in office wearing jacket and tie

Milestones

Physicist Paul Richards, a pioneer in studies of the cosmic microwave background, dies at 90

smiling man with glasses in a dark blue suit sitting at a desk

People

A Q&A with the new dean of biological sciences, Richard Harland

outline sketches of grains: corn, wheat and rice

Agriculture accelerated human genome evolution to capture energy from starchy foods

a bearded man wearing goggles adjust equipment inside a fume hood

New process vaporizes plastic bags and bottles, yielding gases to make new, recycled plastics

an orange slice of bread and an orange liquid in a white bowl being topped with a drop of amber liquid from a pipette

Can fungi turn food waste into the next culinary sensation?

a ball of blue blobs with hundreds of orange hairs sticking out

Creature the size of a dust grain found hiding in California’s Mono Lake

a small white and black tube sits on pebbly red ground in the shade of the Insight lander on Mars

Rocks collected on Mars hold key to water and perhaps life on the planet. Bring them back to Earth.

the bridk-red planet Mars with white caps at poles

Scientists find oceans of water on Mars. It’s just too deep to tap.

a lumpy gray model of proteins wrapped by blue and red DNA strands

Research gives a better understanding of what it takes to unpack DNA

glowing green elongated worms cluster together like segments of an orange

Do smells prime our gut to fight off infection?

dirty white glacier ending at blue lake with deep blue sky above

Size of tropical glaciers at lowest point in at least 11,000 years

cutout headshots of four people against a blue and gold background

Four new faculty hires are a quantum leap for experimental physics

girl sitting outside holding a pencil and a clipboard

California teachers eager for more environmental learning, but need additional support

closeup of the face of a snarling dog and a cute, red-headed baby with adorable blue eyes

New study shows how the brain reacts emotionally to the real world