Uncategorized

  1. Darwin’s Tongues

    Languages, like genes, can tell evolutionary tales.

    By Bruce Bower

  2. Space Eats

    Astronaut journey to Mars requires new age nibbles.

    By Alexandra Witze
  3. Chemistry

    Headache tree is a pain in the brain

    Following a gardener’s lead, researchers discover an ingredient in bay laurel that causes uncomfortable swelling of cranial blood vessels.

    By Rachel Ehrenberg
  4. Paleontology

    Tooth stranger than fiction

    A mammal fossil unearthed in South America resembles ‘Ice Age’ saber-toothed squirrel.

    By Alexandra Witze
  5. Life

    The origin of orbs

    Spectacular web designs trace back to a single spider origin.

    By Nick Bascom
  6. Space

    Mars’ history is a fluid situation

    Recent data from two spacecraft suggest the planet was mostly dry and cold, with a wet, warm subsurface.

    By Nadia Drake
  7. Earth

    Pollution may be strengthening Asian cyclones

    Sooty brown clouds may underlie the recent emergence of mega-storms striking from India to the Middle East.

    By Janet Raloff
  8. Life

    Axing molecular zombies may slow aging

    Killing off dormant cells slows the decline of mice genetically engineered to grow old fast.

    By Nick Bascom
  9. Humans

    Humans’ entry into Europe pushed earlier

    Homo sapiens fossils from Italy and England point to an early arrival and a longer time living alongside Neandertals.

    By Bruce Bower
  10. Physics

    The sound of screech

    Auditory experts decipher the blood-curdling nature of fingernails on a chalkboard.

    By Devin Powell
  11. Health & Medicine

    Eye movements confirm hypnosis

    A true trance can't be faked, research suggests.

    By Laura Sanders
  12. Life

    Nearness key in microbe DNA swaps

    Close quarters, like those inside the human body, are the most important factor in determining how often bacteria pick up one another’s genes.

    By Tina Hesman Saey