News
- Animals
Frigate birds fly nonstop for months
The great frigate bird can fly for up to two months without landing, thanks to a boost from wind and clouds.
- Physics
Falling through the Earth would be a drag
Scientists study how friction affects a hypothetical jump through the center of the Earth.
- Paleontology
Parasites wormed way into dino’s gut
Tiny slimed tunnels in the guts of a 77-million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur fossil offer the first hard evidence that dinosaurs may have been infected by parasitic worms, paleontologists say.
By Meghan Rosen - Health & Medicine
Tight spaces cause spreading cancer cells to divide improperly
Researchers are using rolled-up transparent nanomembranes to mimic tiny blood vessels and study how cancer cells divide in these tight spaces.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum fragility may help birds navigate
Birds’ internal compasses may rely on the delicate nature of the quantum world.
- Astronomy
Possible perp found in mystery of Milky Way’s missing galaxy pals
Billions of years of supernovas could explain why galaxies like the Milky Way have so few tiny companions and why those companions have so little mass.
- Life
Cities create accidental experiments in plant, animal evolution
To look for evolution in human-scale time, pick a city and watch a lizard. Or some clover.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Reptile scales share evolutionary origin with hair, feathers
Hair, scales and feathers arose from same ancestral appendage.
- Psychology
Moral dilemma could put brakes on driverless cars
Driverless cars race into a moral conflict over saving passengers or pedestrians.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Scientists find clue to why mitochondrial DNA comes only from mom
Scientists have identified a protein that chops up the mitochondrial DNA in a dad’s sperm after it fertilizes an egg. The finding helps explain why mitochondrial DNA is usually passed on only by mothers.
- Life
New species of bacteria found to cause Lyme disease
Camping? Don’t forget the bug spray. Lyme disease covers new ground.
By Laura Beil - Life
Fido and Fluffy could unleash drug-resistant microbes
After discovering resistant microbes in pets, scientists worry about the role of companion animals in the spread of resistant urinary infections.
By Laura Beil