All Stories

  1. Humans

    No fairy tale: Origins of some famous stories go back thousands of years

    Pairing folktales with ancient languages shows that at least a few folktales originated thousands of years ago.

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  2. Life

    MicroRNAs manage gut microbes

    MicroRNAs mold gut microbes into healthier communities for the host.

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  3. Climate

    Atmospheric tides alter rainfall rate

    Atmospheric tides caused by the moon’s gravitational pull ever-so-slightly alter rainfall rates on Earth by producing rises and falls in atmospheric pressure.

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  4. Animals

    Whales are full of toxic chemicals

    For decades, scientists have been finding troublesome levels of PCBs, mercury and other toxic chemicals in whales and dolphins.

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  5. Science & Society

    Human evolution, biomimicry and more go on display

    A new human evolution gallery and a lecture series on Europa are among science events to explore in February 2016.

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  6. Oceans

    Ocean heating doubles

    Earth’s oceans now absorb twice as much heat as they did 18 years ago, with more than a third of that warmth going into the ocean depths.

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  7. Astronomy

    The votes are in: Exoplanets get new names

    Arion, Galileo and Poltergeist are just three winners of a contest to name planets and suns in 20 solar systems.

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  8. Genetics

    Bubonic plague hung out in Europe

    The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis may have lurked in a medieval European reservoir for at least 300 years, researchers from Germany suggest January 13 in PLOS ONE.

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  9. Genetics

    Bubonic plague hung around in Europe

    DNA from plague victims suggests that a European reservoir of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis could have fueled the medieval pandemic.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    CDC issues travel guidelines for pregnant women

    Pregnant women should consider postponing travel to much of Latin America and the Caribbean.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Low-fiber diets make gut microbes poop out

    A low-fiber diet makes for low bacterial diversity in mice. A new study shows those mice can then pass a denuded microbiome on to their offspring.

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  12. Animals

    Torrent frog flirting is complicated

    The courtship displays of Brazilian torrent frogs entail a subtle but sophisticated slew of songs and movements.

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