News
- Life
Neandertal relative bred with humans
Known only through DNA extracted from a scrap of bone, a Siberian hominid group suggests a much more complicated prehistory for Homo sapiens.
- Space
South Pole neutrino detector complete
Scientists lower the last of more than 5,000 sensors into the Antarctic ice, completing the mile-deep IceCube observatory.
- Life
Genes separate Africa’s elephant herds
Genetic work reveals forest and savanna pachyderms as distinct species.
- Humans
Periodic table gets some flex
IUPAC committee replaces fuzzy atomic weights with more accurate ranges
- Space
Space rock surprise
Meteorite analysis suggests it may be possible to make amino acids in the absence of water, boosting the chances of finding life elsewhere in the universe.
- Life
Gene genesis
About a quarter of present-day life's DNA blueprint had been sketched out by 2.8 billion years ago, a new analysis finds.
- Animals
Female chimps play with ‘dolls’
Youngsters mimic mothering by cradling sticks, reigniting debate over sex differences in toy choices.
- Space
Cosmic reincarnation idea may be dead
Cosmological patterns that were recently put forth as evidence for a pre–Big Bang universe are easily explained by current theory, critics say.
- Earth
Bugged forests bad for climate
Trees savaged by pine beetles are slow to recover their ecological function as greenhouse gas sponges.
- Chemistry
Hornet pigment drives solar cell in lab
Though far from photosynthetic, an insect's light-harvesting apparatus intrigues scientists.
- Chemistry
Twisted rules of chemistry explained
A theorist uses quantum mechanics to explain why Möbius molecules have different numbers of electrons than standard rings.
- Humans
Google project launches new field of culture study
An analysis of digitized books probes language change, collective memory and other cultural developments from 1800 to 2000.
