All Stories
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She salamanders punish fickle mates
Female salamanders get aggressive if the male they share a rock with wanders back after an interlude with another female.
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19249
A mild objection: This article on lichens mentioned that lichens are composed of fungi and algae, a type of protist, as if it were a given that all agree to. While it is true that the majority of taxonomists would classify an alga as a protist, there still are a large number of modern taxonomists […]
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Yikes! The Lichens Went Flying
Tales from the dark (and frequently crunchy) side of biodiversity.
- Physics
Seeking the Mother of All Matter
World's mightiest particle collider may transform less-than-nothing into a primordial something.
- Materials Science
Apollo attire needs care
Advanced spacesuits protected astronauts far from Earth just 30 years ago, but the materials have already deteriorated.
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Tales from the crypts: Cells battle germs
Inhabiting tiny pits in the small intestine, so-called Paneth cells defend other cells in these crypts by discharging bacteria-killing bursts of enzymes and other molecules.
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19248
This article suggests that exposure to microbes in early life helps develop a child’s immune system. Speaking of dietary habits among 18th-century “Scotch-Irish” immigrants to the back-country regions of colonial America, David Hackett Fischer notes in Albion’s Seed (1989, Oxford University Press): “The quality of butter was believed to be improved in proportion to the […]
- Health & Medicine
Do more infections mean less asthma?
Young infants kept out of day care and having no more than one older sibling are significantly more likely to develop asthma than are babies who have greater exposure to other children.
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Promiscuity in guppies has its virtues
Mating with multiple partners benefits the female Trinidadian guppy and her offspring by reducing gestation time and producing youngsters more adept at forming protective schools and at evading capture.
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Nausea drug may aid alcoholism treatment
A drug that lowers the activity of serotonin and other chemical messengers in the brain may boost the effectiveness of psychological treatments for a severe form of alcoholism.
- Earth
Cars’ ammonia may sabotage tailpipe gains
Though cars' catalytic converters clean up some of the acidic contributors to urban haze and particulates pollution, a subset of these pollution-control devices seems to foster the production of ammonia, another pivotal ingredient in haze and particulates.
- Animals
Toothy valves control crocodile hearts
The odd cog teeth of the crocodile heart may be the first cardiac valve known to control blood flow actively.
