News
- Paleontology
Ancestral Handful: Tiny skull puts Asia at root of primate tree
Researchers have unearthed the partial skull of the oldest known primate, a tiny creature that lived in south-central China 55 million years ago.
- Earth
My Own Private Bad-Air Day: Outdoor data underrate pollutant exposure
Most people breathe in substantially more organic contaminants than airborne concentrations of such substances in their homes and communities would suggest.
- Animals
Whale Haunt: Nursing, feeding spot found off south Chile
A survey along the coast of southern Chile has turned up a previously undocumented blue whale hangout that seems to be a feeding ground.
- Physics
Topsy Turvy: In neutrons and protons, quarks take wrong turns
Revved-up particles, namely quarks, spinning inside neutrons in the opposite direction to that of the neutrons themselves, challenge the prevailing model of how quarks behave.
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- Earth
New technique dates glaze on desert rocks
Scientists have developed a quick, easy, portable, and nondestructive way to determine the age of desert varnish, the mysterious dark coating that slowly develops on rocks in many arid regions of the world.
- Earth
Newfound fault may explain quakes
Tsunami simulations suggest that a newly discovered fault zone beneath the Atlantic Ocean could have released most of the seismic energy from three earthquakes that destroyed Lisbon, Portugal, on the morning of Nov. 1, 1755.
- Earth
Alaska shook, mountains spoke
Small pulses in atmospheric pressure detected in Fairbanks soon after the magnitude 7.9 Denali quake on Nov. 3, 2002, suggest that the temblor literally moved mountains.
- Earth
Earth sometimes shivers beneath thick blankets of ice
New analyses of old seismic data have distinguished the ground motions spawned by a previously unrecognized type of earthquake—quakes created by brief surges of massive glaciers.
- Planetary Science
Lunar finding doesn’t hold water
A new radar study of craters at the moon's north and south poles reveals that neither region contains substantial amounts of frozen water.
- Health & Medicine
Protein found central to ecstasy fever
Scientists have identified a protein contributing to the high fevers that are sometimes generated by the drug ecstasy.
- Ecosystems
Brazil Nut Loss Looms: Harvest may be too heavy to last
A study of 23 spots in Amazonian forests has raised the question of whether the collection of Brazil nuts—praised as a model of gentle forest use—has reached such levels that it may not be sustainable.
