News
- Archaeology
Stone Age Britons pay surprise visit
Estimated to be roughly 700,000 years old, stone tools recently unearthed along England's southeastern coast are the earliest evidence of human ancestors in northern Europe.
By Bruce Bower - Tech
Hearing implant knows where it goes
A new type of cochlear implant includes sensors whose signals may help surgeons insert the device more deeply into the inner ear and so provide better hearing.
By Peter Weiss -
Sexual selection: Darwin does Jamaica
A study of young Jamaicans dancing to pop music suggests that some of Darwin's ideas about animal courtship may apply to people.
By Susan Milius - Animals
First maternal care filmed in squid
At least one squid species turns out to be a caring mom after all, say researchers who filmed the creatures using remote-control cameras positioned deep in the Pacific Ocean. With Video.
By Susan Milius - Astronomy
Gauging Star Birth: Spacecraft uses gamma rays as stellar tracer
Using radioactive material spewed into space by dying stars, astronomers have measured the star-formation rate in our galaxy over the past few million years.
By Ron Cowen - Earth
Mass movement
Two satellites designed to note small changes in Earth's gravitational field detected effects of the magnitude 9.3 earthquake that occurred west of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004.
By Sid Perkins - Physics
Quantum Chip: Device handles ions as if they were data
A new microchip can trap and move an ion, preliminary steps toward carrying out quantum computations on a chip.
By Peter Weiss - Animals
Locust Upset: DNA puts swarmer’s origin in Africa
The desert locust was not an ancient export from the Americas, according to a new DNA analysis.
By Susan Milius - Chemistry
Molecular Car Park: Material packs in carbon dioxide
A porous, crystalline material composed of metal and organic building blocks holds more carbon dioxide than other porous substances do.
- Earth
Gunning for the Gut: Tiny particles might fight invasive zebra mussels
By modifying a technique used to flavor foods, researchers have made a substance that poisons the zebra mussel.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Alzheimer Clue: Busy brain connections may have downside
Brain areas that are chronically activated have excess amyloid beta, the waxy protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.
By Nathan Seppa - Anthropology
Stone Age Footwork: Ancient human prints turn up down under
An ancient, dried-up lakeshore in Australia has yielded the largest known collection of Stone Age footprints, made about 20,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower