News
- Health & Medicine
Dengue fever spreads in a neighborly way
Individual strains of dengue spread locally, and new infections cluster near the home of the first person affected.
- Health & Medicine
Random mutations play large role in cancer, study finds
Mistakes made while copying DNA account for more mutations in cancer cells than environment or inheritance do.
- Animals
Female guppies with bigger brains pick more attractive guys
A larger-brained female guppy may pick primo males, but all that mental machinery costs her in other ways.
- Paleontology
Anatomy analysis suggests new dinosaur family tree
A new analysis rewrites the dinosaur family tree, splitting up long-recognized groups.
- Planetary Science
How Pluto’s haze could explain its red spots
Pluto’s collapsing atmosphere may explain the dwarf planet’s seemingly random ruddy spots.
- Plants
Genetic switch offers clue to why grasses are survival masters
Scientists have identified a genetic switch that helps grasses regulate their carbon dioxide intake.
- Ecosystems
A king snake’s strength is in its squeeze
King snakes feast on other, larger snakes, perhaps thanks to superior constricting abilities, new research suggests.
- Science & Society
White House budget plan would slash science
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 includes some big cuts for science.
- Earth
Remnants of Earth’s original crust preserve time before plate tectonics
Canadian rocks containing bits from 4.2 billion years ago suggest that full-fledged plate tectonics had a late start.
- Physics
Superfluid helium behaves like black holes
Simulations of superfluid helium show it follows the same unusual entropy rule that black holes do.
- Astronomy
Distant galaxies lack dark matter, study suggests
Slower-than-expected velocities of stars in distant galaxies, if confirmed, could reshape astronomers’ ideas of galaxy formation and evolution.
- Neuroscience
Making a mistake can put your brain on ‘pause’
When there’s not much time to recover, one error can lead to another.
