All Stories
- Chemistry
Elusive triangular snowflakes explained
Dust particles,wind and aerodynamics could steer some snowflakes toward a three-sided fate
- Humans
Loneliness is contagious, study suggests
An analysis of social networks finds that people who feel isolated may spread mistrust among others.
- Paleontology
Major eruption cooled the climate but went unnoticed
Ice-core records suggest that a major 1809 eruption cooled Earth even before the Tambora eruption and ‘the year without a summer’.
- Space
World’s biggest atom smasher sets first record
After a year’s delay, the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, became the world’s highest energy particle accelerator on November 30, revving up each of its twin proton beams to energies of 1.18 trillion electron volts.
- Health & Medicine
Discerning pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis
New test shows patients with autoimmune pancreatitis are more likely to have a telltale antibody.
- Ecosystems
Dining: Bugged on Thanksgiving
Earlier this week, I met with Zack Lemann at the Insectarium, a roughly 18-month-old Audubon museum. He gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of its dozens of living exhibits hosting insects and more -- including tarantulas and, arriving that day for their Tuesday debut, white (non-albino) alligators. But the purpose of my noon-hour visit was to sample the local cuisine and learn details of preparations for a holiday menu that would be offered through tomorrow at the facility’s experiential cafe: Bug Appetit. There’s Thanksgiving turkey with a cornbread and wax worm stuffing, cranberry sauce with meal worms, and Cricket Pumpkin Pie. It’s cuisine most Americans would never pay for. But at the Insectarium, they don’t have to. It’s offered free as part of an educational adventure.
- Humans
Beefy hormones: New routes of exposure
On any given day, some 750,000 U.S feedlots are beefing up between 11 million and 14 million head of cattle. The vast majority of these animals will receive muscle-building steroids — hormones they will eventually excrete into the environment. But traditional notions about where those biologically active pollutants end up may need substantial revising, several new studies find.
- Animals
Little push turns snail lefties to righties
Bumping an early embryo’s cells can switch the direction of its spiral.
- Life
Bone regulators moonlight in the brain as fever inducers
Study in mice suggests proteins could be source of post-menopausal hot flashes.
- Humans
A timely touch transforms speech perception
New research indicates that what people hear others saying depends on their skin, not just their ears.
- Life
Fecal architecture is beetle armor
Predators have a hard time getting through the layers of excrement some beetle moms give their young.
- Earth
GPS bolsters view that big Cascadia quakes could hit inland
Satellite tracking of plate movements shows that a magnitude-9 tremor in Pacific Northwest could strike close to urban areas.
