A LEG TO STAND ON Scientists have tackled the question of how a biggish bird can balance, and apparently nap, on just one skinny leg.
Clint /iStockphoto
-
Magazine
In the May 27 SN: Genetic intruders, seeing Chaco in a new light, an artificial womb, Mars’ origin revisited, domestication of the horse, glimpsing Earth’s glacial past, what’s in a fang blenny’s bite and more.
IN NEW LIGHT Recent research suggests that the ancient Chaco society of the U.S. Southwest was founded by locals and run by a female lineage for hundreds of years. The best-known Chaco structures are great houses, massive, multilevel buildings represented here by the remains of Pueblo del Arroyo.
PETER DONALDSON/ALAMY
DO THE WAVE Quantum matter acts like both a particle and a wave, as demonstrated by the famous double-slit experiment (illustrated above). Electrons sent through a pair of slits interfere like waves, creating peaks and troughs. This wave nature of matter could be used to create a tractor beam that could reel in atoms or molecules, a new study proposes.
Russell Kightley/Science Source
WELL TRAVELED A new chemical analysis finds that this 41,000- to 32,000-year-old obsidian tool, previously unearthed in a Syrian rock-shelter, was transported more than 700 kilometers. That means that long-distance movement of obsidian into the Middle East occurred much earlier than previously thought, researchers say.
E. Frahm
Science News
News
New test may improve pancreatic cancer diagnoses
Blood test that detects five tumor proteins may someday help doctors better screen for pancreatic cancer.
News
The Zika epidemic began long before anyone noticed
Zika spread undetected into Brazil and Florida, a genetic study suggests.
Sponsor Message
News
How a flamingo balances on one leg
Flamingos’ built-in tricks for balance might have a thing or two to teach standing robots or prosthesis makers someday.
Feature
Jumping genes play a big role in what makes us human
Jumping genes have been a powerful force in human evolution.
News
Tool sharpens focus on Stone Age networking in the Middle East
Stone Age tool’s route to Syrian site covered at least 700 kilometers.
Feature
Chaco Canyon’s ancient civilization continues to puzzle
A dynasty may have risen from the dead in an ancient Chaco great house.
News
European fossils may belong to earliest known hominid
With new analyses of Graecopithecus fossils from Greece and Bulgaria, researchers argue for possible hominid origins in Europe, not Africa.
News
40 more ‘intelligence’ genes found
A study of nearly 80,000 people turns up 40 genes that may have a role in making brains smarter.
News
Even short-term opioid use can set people up for addiction risks
A study of opioid prescriptions for sprained ankles finds that patients prescribed 30 or more pills are more likely to seek refills.
News
Quantum tractor beam could tug atoms, molecules
The wavelike behavior of quantum particles could be harnessed to move atoms.
Science Stats
Global access to quality health care has improved in the last two decades
Health care quality and availability improved worldwide from 1990 to 2015, but the gap between countries with the lowest and highest levels of care widened.
News
Hybrid protein offers malaria protection
Rare hybrid protein that spans red blood cell membranes offers some protection against malaria.
News
Transplanted stem cells become eggs in sterile mice
Sterile mice that received transplanted egg-making stem cells were able to have healthy babies.
50 Years Ago
50 years ago, an Earth-based telescope spotted Saturn’s fourth ring
Scientists now rely on spacecraft to chart the intricate rings of the gas giant.
News
When it’s hot, plants become a surprisingly large source of air pollution
During a heat wave, trees and shrubs can sharply raise ozone levels, a new study shows.
News
Orangutans take motherhood to extremes, nursing young for more than eight years
Weaning in orangutans has been tricky to see in the wild, so researchers turned to dental tests to reveal long nursing period.
It's Alive
Blennies have a lot of fang for such little fishes
Unlike snakes, blennies evolved fangs before venom, through probably not because of any need to hunt big prey.
News
Where you live can affect your blood pressure, study suggests
For black adults, moving out of a racially segregated neighborhood is linked to a drop in blood pressure, a new study finds.
News
Naked singularity might evade cosmic censor
Physicists demonstrate the possibility of a “naked” singularity in curved space.
Exhibit
New museum exhibit explores science of racism
“Us and Them,” a new exhibit at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, draws on genetics, psychology, anthropology and sociology to examine why racism and prejudice persist.
Science Visualized
Stunning images reveal glacial landscapes under the oceans
The most detailed atlas of the seafloor ever compiled offers colorful imagery and ghostly glimpses of Earth’s glacial past.
News in Brief
Watch male cuttlefish fight over a female in the wild
For the first time, researchers have observed the competitive mating behaviors of the European cuttlefish in the field.
News in Brief
Antiproton count hints at dark matter annihilation
Antimatter in cosmic rays could be a sign of dark matter.
News
Selfish genes hide for decades in plain sight of worm geneticists
Crossing wild Hawaiian C. elegans with the familiar lab strain reveals genes that benefit themselves by making mother worms poison offspring who haven’t inherited the right stuff.