All Stories
- Animals
Dolphins appear to perceive magnetic fields
Bottlenose dolphins take less time to start exploring a magnetized block, suggesting they can sense magnetic fields.
- Animals
Videos hint at why tree bats may die at wind turbines
Using heat-sensitive cameras, scientists were able to watch how tree bats interact with wind turbines and determine what behaviors may lead to their deaths.
- Climate
Missing winds probably foiled 2014’s chance for El Niño
Lack of antitrade winds probably hampered 2014 El Niño.
- Animals
Blind cavefish got no (circadian) rhythm
Eyeless Mexican cavefish have lost their circadian rhythm and become more efficient in the dark, a new study finds.
- Climate
19th century chronicles offer clues to mystery volcano
Meteorological records narrow down the time and place of a massive volcanic eruption that helped trigger a decade of extreme cold.
- Chemistry
Interstellar chemical resembles building blocks of life
A molecule detected in the space between stars resembles amino acids, suggesting those building blocks of life share a similar origin.
- Science & Society
Top 10 science anniversaries in 2014
2014 is a rich year for scientific anniversaries, from the birth of Vesalius to quantum factoring.
- Paleontology
Strange fossils from China hint at early multicellular life
New fossils of strange, oblong organisms that lived 600 million years ago are giving scientists hints to how living things may have moved from being single- to multi-celled.
- Animals
Even on remote islands, busy ports mean more invasives
Islands with lots of trading ties are more likely to be colonized by invasive species, even when they are geographically remote, a new study of anoles reveals.
- Archaeology
Ancient stone-tool making method arose multiple times
Hominids in both Africa and Eurasia independently invented a flake-tool technique hundreds of thousands of years ago, countering a long-held idea in archaeology.
- Tech
Solar cell powers water-to-hydrogen conversion
High efficiency could make perovskite solar cells useful for generating environmentally friendly fuel.
- Neuroscience
Mighty muscles may stave off depression
Strong muscles protect the brain from stress-induced toxin associated with depression, a study in mice suggests.
