News
- Math
Chicks do arithmetic
Using the natural inclination of young chickens to cluster in large groups, researchers show that the birds are hatched with a numerical sense.
- Life
Genes help monarchs migrate
At least 40 genes help monarch butterflies find their way to overwintering sites in Mexico.
- Health & Medicine
Parasites hinder immunity against cholera
Harboring intestinal parasites seems to limit a person’s ability to fend off cholera, a new study conducted in Bangladesh shows.
- Life
Louse-y genome surprise
Blood-sucking body lice have an odd arrangement of mitochondrial genes.
- Health & Medicine
Autism immerses 2-year-olds in a synchronized world
By age 2, kids with autism focus on synchronized physical events, such as a person’s moving lips accompanied by sounds, rather than on eye movements and other social cues, a new study suggests.
- Life
Dissing a loaded label for some unicellular life
Prominent biologist calls ‘prokaryote’ outdated term.
- Earth
Tallying emissions in ports and at sea
Ships are major contributors to acid rain and ground-level ozone concentrations in some parts of the world.
- Space
Ice cubes in space
Planetary scientists have determined the composition and orbits of two moons at the fringes of the solar system, finding that the bodies were created when an impactor struck the dwarf planet that they now orbit.
- Health & Medicine
How herpes re-rears its ugly head
Researchers identify a key player in the reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 1.
- Life
Wild herring prove fast organizers
Recent technology helps researchers find out how a bunch of fish turn into a shoal.
- Health & Medicine
Gestures speak volumes in the brain
A new brain-imaging study suggests that an understanding of spoken language relies on changing sets of brain networks that exploit acoustic and visual cues.
- Earth
Exxon Valdez 20 Years Later
March 24 marked the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The effects are still obvious today. A series of blogs from senior editor Janet Raloff describes the continuing aftermath.
