Uncategorized
- Paleontology
Baby dinosaurs took three to six months to hatch
Growth lines on teeth indicate a surprisingly long incubation period.
- Physics
Chemists strike gold, solve mystery about precious metal’s properties
A longstanding puzzle about gold’s properties has been solved with more complex theoretical calculations.
- Archaeology
Real-life adventure tale details search for legendary city
"The Lost City of the Monkey God" recounts archaeological expedition to uncover truth behind Honduras’ “White City" myth.
By Erin Wayman - Life
What a mosquito’s immune system can tell us about fighting malaria
Immune system messengers carried in microscopic sacs help mosquitoes fend off malaria, new research suggests.
- Animals
Desert ants look to the sky, rely on memory to navigate backward
Desert ants appear to use a combination of visual memory and celestial cues to make it back to the nest walking butt-first, researchers find.
- Climate
Earth’s last major warm period was as hot as today
Sea surface temperatures today are comparable to those around 125,000 years ago, a time when sea levels were 6 to 9 meters higher, new research suggests.
- Ecosystems
In debate over origin of fairy circles, both sides might be right
Odd bare spots called fairy circles in African grasslands might be caused by both termites and plants.
By Susan Milius - Science & Society
Cancer studies get mixed grades on redo tests
Replications of cancer studies fail to reproduce some results.
- Climate
Monsoon deluges turned ancient Sahara green
The ancient Sahara Desert sprouted trees and lakes for thousands of years thanks to intense rainfall.
By Bruce Bower - Climate
For three years in a row, Earth breaks heat record
Spurred by climate change and heat from a strong El Niño, 2016 was the hottest year on record.
- Tech
Heart-hugging robot does the twist (and squeeze)
A robotic sleeve that slips around the heart mimics the heart’s natural movement, squeezing and twisting to pump blood in pigs. If it works in humans, it could buy time for heart failure patients awaiting a transplant.
By Meghan Rosen - 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.