Uncategorized
- Climate
Farmers in India cut their carbon footprint with trees and solar power
Planting trees near crops and pumping water with solar power in India is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
By Sibi Arasu - Archaeology
A special brew may have calmed Inca children headed for sacrifice
The mummified remains contained a substance that may reduce anxiety and is found in ayahuasca, a psychedelic ceremonial liquid still drunk today.
By Bruce Bower - Planetary Science
NASA’s InSight lander has recorded the largest Marsquake yet
The magnitude 5 temblor, detected May 4, will help scientists learn more about the Red Planet’s interior.
- Physics
Experiments hint at why bird nests are so sturdy
A bird’s nest is a special version of a granular material. Lab experiments and computer simulations explain its quirky behavior.
- Humans
Prehistoric people may have used light from fires to create dynamic art
When brought near flickering flames, prehistoric stone engravings of animals seem to move, experiments with replicas and virtual reality show.
- Astronomy
We finally have an image of the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way
Observations from the Event Horizon Telescope reveal the turbulent region around our home galaxy’s black hole, Sagittarius A*, in new detail.
By Liz Kruesi and Emily Conover - Earth
Machine learning and gravity signals could rapidly detect big earthquakes
Large earthquakes make speed-of-light adjustments to Earth’s gravitational field. Researchers have now trained computers to detect the signals.
- Health & Medicine
Here’s the latest good and bad news about COVID-19 drugs
After coronavirus vaccines, antivirals and a monoclonal antibody are the next line of defense, but the treatments may be hard for some people to find.
- Humans
Eating meat is the Western norm. But norms can change
A meat-heavy diet, with its high climate costs, is the norm in the West. So social scientists are working to upend normal.
By Sujata Gupta - Animals
Baby marmosets may practice their first distinctive cries in the womb
Ultrasounds tracking fetal mouth movements in baby marmosets pinpoint the early development of the motor skills needed for vocalization.
By Anna Gibbs - Science & Society
Why it’s so hard for a one-hit wonder to have a lasting music career
An analysis of nearly 3 million pop songs from 1959 to 2010 shows fame is a dance between similarity and innovation.
By Chris Gorski - Astronomy
The sun’s searing radiation led to the shuffling of the solar system’s planets
As the young sun’s radiation evaporated gas from its surrounding disk, it triggered a jumbling of the giant planets’ orbits, simulations suggest.
By Liz Kruesi