All Stories
- Paleontology
Dimetrodon’s diet redetermined
The reptilelike Dimetrodon dined mainly on amphibians and sharks, not big herbivores as scientists once believed.
- Anthropology
Sleep time in hunter-gatherer groups on low end of scale
Hunter-gatherer communities in Africa and South America have similar sleeping patterns as people living in postindustrial societies, researchers find.
- Planetary Science
Five surprising discoveries about Pluto
Here are five key (though not necessarily new) findings in the paper that epitomize the surprising complexity of the Pluto system.
- Animals
Bees get hooked on flowers’ caffeine buzz
Flowers drug honey bees with caffeinated nectar to trick them into returning, causing the bees to shift their foraging and dancing behaviors.
- Plants
Early cyanobacteria fossils dug up in 1965
In 1965, early photosynthetic plant fossils were discovered. The date of earliest oxygen-producing life forms has since been pushed much earlier.
- Health & Medicine
First known case of sexually transmitted Ebola reported
A Liberian woman contracted Ebola in March by having sex with a survivor of the viral disease, researchers report.
- Neuroscience
Adolescent brains open to change
Adolescent brains are still changing, a malleability that renders them particularly sensitive to the outside world.
- Humans
U.S. is growing more genetically diverse
Young Americans are more genetically diverse than previous generations, a new DNA analysis reveals.
- Genetics
Microbes may reveal colon cancer mutations
Certain microbial mixes are associated with particular DNA mutations in colon cancer, a new study suggests.
- Anthropology
Long before going to Europe, humans ventured east to Asia
Cave finds indicate modern humans reached southern China long before entering Europe.
- Animals
Root fungi make or break monarchs’ chances against parasite
Fungi that live amid the roots of milkweed plants change the chemicals produced in the plant’s leaves, which can either aid or hinder a monarch butterfly’s ability to fight off parasites.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer drug’s effectiveness overinflated in animal studies
Claims about the cancer drug sunitinib are overblown because of poorly designed studies and negative results that were never published, a new analysis suggests.
