All Stories
- Animals
Pandas enjoy the sweet life
Unlike many of their carnivore relatives, bamboo-loving pandas can taste natural, and some artificial, sugars.
- Computing
A tale of touching tubes
Mathematicians solve the challenge of putting seven cylinders in contact without using their ends.
- Anthropology
Bronze Age herders spread farming around Asia
Ancient seeds indicate that Central Asian animal raisers had an unappreciated impact on early agriculture.
- Planetary Science
Moon gets younger age estimate
The moon may have formed about 95 million years after the birth of the solar system, up to 70 million years later than some scientists previously predicted.
- Neuroscience
Brain’s growth, networks unveiled in new maps
Two large-scale efforts describe human and mouse brains in detail.
- Neuroscience
Lost sleep could mean lost neurons
A new study shows we may not be able to make up for chronic sleep deprivation. The protein SirT3 might protect us against late nights, but all-nighters may produce neuron loss.
- Health & Medicine
Statins may improve erectile function
Although doctors had been concerned that statins were associated with erectile dysfunction, an analysis of 14 studies finds that the drugs may actually help erectile function.
- Cosmology
Maybe time’s arrow needs ergodicity as well as entropy
Explaining the arrow of time might require an equilibrium universe with hidden ergodic dynamics.
- Health & Medicine
Celiac disease linked to heart problems
Inflammation may explain the link between celiac disease, a digestive disorder, and coronary artery disease.
- Paleontology
Sea stars sighted predators 79 million years ago
Sea stars may have evolved complex lenselike structures to detect and evade predators at least 79 million years ago.
- Science & Society
Misconduct found in Japanese stem cell research
An investigation into reports describing a type of stem cells called STAP cells has found that the lead researcher is guilty of scientific misconduct.
- Genetics
Neandertal legacy written in Europeans’ fat metabolism
DNA inherited from Neandertal interbreeding may have helped people adjust to Europe’s environment.
