A skull is seen on the forest floor; above it, magnified and in circles, are a blow fly, bacteria, and a carrion beetle.
| 5 min read
From bodily fluids to skeletal remains, advances in DNA analysis and the study of insects and microbes aid forensic investigations.

bones

A postcard from the early 1900s depicting an Indigenous midden in Damariscotta, Maine.

Sticks and Bones, Circa 8000 BCE

Various primate 

Science Snapshot: An Arm and A Leg

A yellow-orange, translucent artist's rendition of a yunnanozoan, an ancient wormlike fish, that highlights the arches that make up its cartilage skeleton.

This Simple Fish May Have Been One of the First Vertebrates

A rooster crowing in a tree

Domesticated Chickens Were Initially Friends, Not Food

man in suit

Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey Dies at Age 77

mummy

Scratchy Scalps Help Glue Together Pieces of an Ancient Past

Caudipteryx Dinosaur Flock stock photo

Paleontologists Find Possible Dinosaur DNA

New Mammal Fossil May Show How Ear Bones Evolved from Jaw Bones

Bubbles for Broken Bones

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A cross section of a pine stem shows cells stained purple and blue.

The Biggest Breakthroughs in Cell Biology in 2025

Photo of John Calhoun crouches within his rodent utopia-turned-dystopia

Universe 25 Experiment

Gollum, the extremely territorial character from The Lord of the Rings, famous for his line, “My precious,” sits on a rock, looking up.

The Gollum Effect: 44 Percent of Scientists Report Territorial Research Experiences

person doing the finger prick test for measuring blood glucose. A new noninvasive method could provide an alternative to such invasive blood tests.

Measuring Blood Sugar Without Painful Pricks? A New Test Scans Skin

Multimedia

Stacks of cell culture dishes, plates, and flasks with pink cell culture medium on a white background.

Driving Innovation with Cell Culture Essentials

Merck
Stacks of cell culture dishes, plates, and flasks with pink cell culture medium on a white background.

Driving Innovation with Cell Culture Essentials

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December digest cover image of a wooden sculpture comprised of multiple wooden neurons that form a seahorse.
December 2025, Issue 1

Wooden Neurons: An Artistic Vision of the Brain

A neurobiologist, who loves the morphology of cells, turns these shapes into works of art made from wood.

View this Issue
Stacks of cell culture dishes, plates, and flasks with pink cell culture medium on a white background.

Driving Innovation with Cell Culture Essentials

Merck
Stacks of cell culture dishes, plates, and flasks with pink cell culture medium on a white background.

Driving Innovation with Cell Culture Essentials

MilliporeSigma purple logo
Human iPSC-derived Models for Brain Disease Research

Human iPSC-derived Models for Neurodegenerative Disease Research

Fujifilm
Abstract wireframe sphere with colorful dots and connecting lines representing the complex cellular and molecular interactions within the tumor microenvironment.

Exploring the Inflammatory Tumor Microenvironment 

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Products

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BRANDTECH® Scientific Announces Strategic Partnership with Copia Scientific to Strengthen Sales and Service of the BRAND® Liquid Handling Station (LHS) 

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Enter Our 2026 Top Innovations Contest

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Biotium Expands Tyramide Signal Amplification Portfolio with Brighter and More Stable Dyes for Enhanced Spatial Imaging

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LabVantage Solutions Awarded $22.3 Million U.S Customs and Border Protection Contract to Deliver Next-Generation Forensic LIMS