News
- Humans
Maya civilization’s roots may lie in ritual
Cultural exchanges in southern Mexico and Guatemala tied to ancient society's rise.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Web searches for money words anticipate market moves
Dow drops follow weeks when more people search Google for ‘debt’ or ‘stocks.’
- Earth
Early Earth’s chlorine blown away by giant impacts
Low levels of chlorine on planet's surface have long puzzled scientists.
By Erin Wayman - Life
Mutation makes H5N1 flu lose its grip
Laboratory-added genetic change makes avian influenza unable to bind to bird cells.
- Life
Why corals do calisthenics
Pulsating motion appears to flush water to improve photosynthetic efficiency in symbiotic algae.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Circumcision changes penis biology
Altered mix of microbes might reduce susceptibility to viral infections.
By Nathan Seppa - Psychology
Disputed signs of consciousness seen in babies’ brains
Within five months of birth, infants produce a possible neural marker of being aware of what they see.
By Bruce Bower - Astronomy
Most Earthlike planets yet seen bring Kepler closer to its holy grail
Space telescope finds globes that, compared with our world, are slightly larger and orbit a smaller star.
By Andrew Grant - Life
Infants, whether mice or human, love to be carried
Being toted around calms and quiets babies of both species.
By Meghan Rosen - Earth
Magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits Iran
Casualties reported in nearby Pakistan from temblor.
By Erin Wayman - Health & Medicine
Bioengineered kidney transplanted into rat
Cleansed of cells and repopulated anew, bioengineered organ successfully produces urine.
By Nathan Seppa - Cosmology
Dark matter detector reports hints of WIMPs
Experiment hundreds of meters underground detects three candidate signs of dark matter, though physicists are cautious about the finding.
By Andrew Grant