News
- Planetary Science
Titan becomes even more enigmatic
Thick, rigid crust of ice encases Saturn's largest moon, perplexing scientists.
- Climate
Global warming hiatus tied to cooler temps in Pacific
Average air temperatures' rise has paused, but not stopped, because of normal variation in ocean temperatures.
- Life
A fight between gut parasites means a win for people
Worms and Giardia can antagonize each other in the human intestinal tract, study of people in the Amazon suggests.
- Humans
Babies learn words before birth
Brain responses suggest infants can distinguish distinct words from altered versions that they learned in the womb.
- Psychology
Behavioral research may overstate results
'Soft' sciences inflate support for what scientists expected to find, data check suggests.
- Earth
Breakups maintain barchan dune fields, somehow
Two new theories try to explain how the crescent-shaped sand mountains persist.
- Astronomy
‘Space beads’ push back origins of iron working
Ancient Egyptians used advanced techniques to make beads out of 'metal from the sky.'
- Astronomy
To determine stars’ physical traits, Kepler sees the light
Measuring stellar brightness can yield useful estimates of stars' size and evolutionary stage, and help in the hunt for planets.
- Animals
For sheep horns, bigger is not better
Trade-offs between studliness and survival keep less endowed sheep in the mix.
- Life
Bacteria can cause pain on their own
Microbes caused discomfort in mice by activating nerves, not the immune system.
- Animals
Birds know road speed limits
Crows, house sparrows and other species judge when to flee the asphalt by average traffic rates rather than an oncoming car's speed.
- Psychology
Blood marker may predict suicide
People who killed themselves had higher levels of a gene involved in cell death.
