In 1909, while harvesting a typical corn crop (Zea mays) in Illinois, a field worker noticed a plant so unusual that it was initially believed to be a new species. Its "peculiarly shaped ear" was "laid aside as a curiosity" and the specimen was designated Zea ramosa (from the Latin ramosus, "having many branches"). Due to the alteration of a single gene, later named ramosa1, both the ear and the tassel of the plant were more highly branched than usual, leading to loose, crooked kernel rows and to a tassel that was far bushier than the tops of normal corn plants.

The post office turned its attention to science Wednesday, issuing four new stamps honoring pioneering American scientists.

Analysis of telomeres, the nucleoprotein complexes that physically cap and protect the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, has a long and intriguing history.

The father of the lunar module, a chemist who won a Nobel Prize in physics, a researcher who revolutionized genetics and a pacifist who founded a defense contractor were inducted into the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame on March 3.