DUST BUSTER In the Orion Nebula, some dusty disks surrounding young stars, as seen in this artist’s rendition, survive despite their proximity to Theta1 Orionis C, the bright star shining in the background. Stars closer to the massive star have lost most of their dust.
C.R. O'Dell and S.K. Wong/Rice Univ., NASA
PING ME The skull of the 28-million-year-old Cotylocara macei suggests that this early toothed whale used echolocation.
James Carew and Mitchell Colgan
BALANCING ACT Early multicellular organisms that relied on nutrients diffusing into their bodies to eat may have been precursors to animals.
Marc Laflamme
YAWN BONDS Chimps catch yawns not only from members of their group but from familiar and unfamiliar people, a new study finds. Researchers suggest that the apes employ this form of empathic behavior with humanlike flexibility.
M. Campbell and F. de Waal 2014/Yerkes National Primate Research Center/Emory Univ.
LURKER The twitches that let a European garden spider know that lunch has landed may not be as easy to detect if strands of its web anchor to human-made materials.
kellylovesphotography/iStockphoto
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