News
- Chemistry
Fats stimulate binge eating
Much like marijuana, fatty foods can spur overeating, a study in rats shows. The new finding also suggests possible therapies to combat the munchies.
- Animals
Chimp has an ear for talk
Human-raised Panzee challenges the notion that only people can discern acoustically altered words.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Environment blamed for autism
A new study of twins downplays the role of genes in determining who will get autism.
- Life
DNA hints at polar bears’ Irish ancestry
Mitochondrial genetic analysis suggests a bit o’ hybridizing long ago with brown bears on the Emerald Isle.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Greenland’s ice sheets face new threat
Subsurface ocean warming is likely to be dramatic in that region, a new study finds.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Sulfur stalls surface temperature rise
A new study shows how pollutants helped balance out the effects of greenhouse gases from 1998 to 2008.
By Nadia Drake - Physics
Rare earth elements plentiful in ocean sediments
The economically vital metals could be mined from the deep sea, Japanese geologists propose.
By Devin Powell -
- Life
Weevils evolved nut-and-screw joint
Insects invented hardware way back in dinosaur days.
By Susan Milius - Psychology
Sleeping babies learn in an eyeblink
To learn about spoken words and other sounds, 1-month-old babies sleep on it.
By Bruce Bower - Physics
You haven’t heard it all
An experimental sound cloak can acoustically conceal objects.
By Devin Powell - Space
Most distant quasar raises questions
Superbright object appeared surprisingly soon after the Big Bang, challenging some theories about how black holes arose.
By Nadia Drake