Tempe campus

It has taken 230 years for scientists to describe 1.8 million species of creatures living on Earth. Quentin Wheeler says that five times as many species need to be described in a fraction of the time before many creatures that are still unknown to science disappear into extinction. --by Adelheid Fischer

The United States is a "litigation-happy" society, with citizens just waiting for the opportunity to sue. This belief is widely accepted and widely proclaimed–but is it true? Not really. --by Diane Boudreau

People narrate their lives through stories, especially as they age. Kevin McHugh has found that the cinema offers a compelling laboratory for examining this process. --by Melissa Olson-Petrie

Cuatro Cienegas, in Mexico's Chihuahuan desert, might hold the key to secrets about microbial evolution, the Cambrian Explosion, speciation, extraterrestrial life, and just about everything else. That key is phosphorus. --by Margaret Coulombe

Laura Fulginiti's students call her "The Bone Doctor." The forensic anthropologist teaches ASU students how to get information out of bones, and shows them the reality of life in a career glamorized by shows like CSI and Bones. --by Jeff Crane

Youngtown, Ariz., used to be an age-restricted retirement community, but not anymore. Kevin McHugh calls the change the "unraveling of an idea." --by Melissa Olson-Petrie

ASU engineering students are designing and assembling medical devices for disabled villagers in Malawi. --by Joe Kullman

A new study suggests that the composition of microbes in the gut may be one reason why gastric-bypass surgery is so effective. It also helps solidify the link between methane-producing microbes and obesity.--by Richard Harth

Scientists studying NASA's MESSENGER data have imaged parts of Mercury never seen before. They have found that volcanos played a large role in shaping the planet's surface, and that Mercury's rocks are unusually iron deficient. --by Robert Burnham

Through the Earthscope program, scientists are installing hundreds of seismometers across the U.S. to record earthquakes from around the world and to help them understand what lies beneath the Earth's surface. --by Diane Boudreau