All Stories
- Earth
A Stinging Forecast: Model predicts chance of encountering jellyfish
Weather forecasters usually prognosticate precipitation, pollen, and poor air quality, but in some areas, they could soon provide beachgoers with the probability of confronting a jellyfish.
By Sid Perkins - Astronomy
Moveable Feast: Milky Way dines on its neighbors
Astronomers have found new evidence that the Milky Way is a cannibal, devouring streams of stars from its nearest galactic neighbors.
By Ron Cowen -
19090
A pet dog doesn’t have to be hungry to enjoy chewing on a bone. Perhaps dire wolves did enjoy a “glorious paradise” 15,000 years ago. Without other predators to chase them away from a kill, they had more leisure time to hang about and chew the bone. Matt FenskeSpokane, Wash. From 15,000 to 12,000 years […]
By Science News - Paleontology
Bone Crushers: Teeth reveal changing times in the Pleistocene
Tooth-fracture incidence among dire wolves in the fossil record can indicate how much bone the carnivores crunched and, therefore, something about the ecology of their time.
By Kristin Cobb - Physics
Law and Disorder: Chance fluctuations can rule the nanorealm
A tug-of-war in a water droplet demonstrates that random fluctuations wield more than enough muscle to give nanoscale machines trouble.
By Peter Weiss - Health & Medicine
Heart damage tied to immune reaction
Researchers in Brazil have identified immune proteins that flood the heart tissues of many people with Chagas disease, suggesting a cause of this deadly complication of the parasitic tropical disease.
By Nathan Seppa - Astronomy
Pluto or bust?
A new National Research Council report may revive plans to send a spacecraft to explore Pluto and its neighborhood.
By Ron Cowen - Paleontology
Unknown creature made birdlike tracks
Paleontologists have found a multitude of birdlike footprints left by a yet undiscovered creature in rocks more than 60 million years older than Archaeopteryx, the first bird to have left fossils of its body parts.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Gene might contribute to asthma risk
Variations in a gene called ADAM33 may predispose a person to asthma.
By Nathan Seppa - Chemistry
Material could halt catalyst waste
New research suggests a way that carmakers might use less of expensive metal materials in automobiles' catalytic converters.
- Health & Medicine
Hormone therapy falls out of favor
Several studies now indicate that health risks associated with hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women outweigh its benefits.
By Nathan Seppa - Archaeology
Ancient site yields a copper whopper
Excavations in Jordan revealed the largest known Early Bronze Age metal-production facility, where workers crafted high-quality copper tools and ingots beginning around 4,700 years ago.
By Bruce Bower