All Stories
- Life
Find your inner fish with PBS series on human evolution
A new documentary explores how the human body came together over 3.5 billion years of animal evolution.
- Health & Medicine
Triclosan aids nasal invasions by staph
The antimicrobial compound triclosan, commonly found in soaps and toothpaste, may help Staphylococcus aureus stick around.
By Beth Mole - Planetary Science
Saturn may be getting a new moon
An icy object within Saturn's rings may be a new moon in the making.
- Genetics
Modern hunter-gatherers’ guts host distinct microbes
A healthy collection of gut bacteria depends on the environment in which people live and their lifestyle, research shows.
- Anthropology
Laetoli footprints show signs of unusual gait
Contrary to prior study, 3.6-million-year-old hominids in Tanzania did not walk like humans.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Earliest case of a battered child found in Greece
A baby living in Athens around 2,200 years ago was probably beaten to death.
By Bruce Bower - Earth
Huge space rock rattled Earth 3 billion years ago
An asteroid almost as wide as Rhode Island may have plowed into Earth 3.26 billion years ago, leaving a trace in South Africa’s Barberton greenstone belt.
- Anthropology
Ancient boy died surprisingly young
Imaging analysis reduces age of Australopithecus sediba youngster from 9 to 7.5 years old.
By Bruce Bower - Climate
Reef fish act drunk in carbon dioxide–rich ocean waters
In first test in the wild, fish near reefs that bubble with CO2 lose fear of predators’ scent.
By Meghan Rosen - Oceans
The surprising life of a piece of sunken wood
Timber and trees that wash out to sea and sink to the bottom of the ocean hold a diverse community of organisms.
- Anthropology
Turkana Boy sparks row over Homo erectus height
Estimating the adult height and weight of an ancient youth from his skeleton has proven tricky.
By Bruce Bower - Climate
Ocean bacteria may have shut off ancient global warming
Ocean-dwelling bacteria may have helped end global warming 56 million years ago by gobbling up carbon from the CO2-laden atmosphere.