Scientists exposed 4-day-old sand dollar larvae to fish mucus, a sign that danger is close. They found that the larvae created clones of themselves within 24 hours.

It was sensational stuff that riveted a nation in 1910: A mild-mannered American doctor poisons then dismembers his unfaithful wife, flees England in disguise with his mistress, is caught, tried & hanged. But new DNA research shows that he was not guilty.

The scientists said they had found "a set of sound-responsive genes in plants" in what other experts said would be an astonishing finding.