Notebook
- Paleontology
Pinhead-sized sea creature was a bag with a mouth
Dozens of tiny fossils discovered in 540-million-year-old limestone represent the earliest known deuterostomes, a diverse group of animals that includes humans and sea cucumbers.
- Animals
Dragonfish opens wide with flex neck joint
New study reveals anatomical secrets of mysterious deep ocean fish.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, methadone made a rosy debut
Heralded as the “answer to heroin addiction,” methadone is still used to treat opiate addiction, despite risks.
- Environment
Humans’ stuff vastly outweighs humans
The human-made technosphere weighs 30 trillion tons and surpasses the natural biosphere in mass and diversity, researchers estimate.
- Paleontology
Baby dinosaurs took three to six months to hatch
Growth lines on teeth indicate a surprisingly long incubation period.
- Planetary Science
Weird wave found in Venus’ wind-whipped atmosphere
A 10,000-kilometer-long gravity wave arched across the upper atmosphere of Venus. The feature may have been the largest of its kind in the solar system.
- Plants
Meat-eating pitcher plants raise deathtraps to an art
The carnivorous California pitcher plant ensnares its dinner using a medley of techniques.
- Paleontology
Tomatillo fossil is oldest nightshade plant
Two 52-million-year-old tomatillo fossils in Patagonia push the origin of nightshade plants back millions of years, to the time when dinosaurs roamed.
- Astronomy
Saturn’s 10th moon was the first satellite discovered in the modern space age
Fifty years ago, astronomers knew of 10 moons orbiting Saturn. Since then they’ve catalogued a diverse set of 62 satellites, with the help of the Cassini spacecraft.
- Animals
These acorn worms have a head for swimming
The larvae of one type of acorn worm are basically “swimming heads,” according to new genetic analyses.
- Archaeology
Ancient Egyptian pot burials were not just for the poor
In ancient Egypt, using pots for burial containers was a symbolic choice, not a last resort, archaeologists say.
- Genetics
50 years ago, alcohol use was linked to several gene variants
50 years later, scientists are still searching for genes that influence drinking.
