Uncategorized
- Astronomy
Quasars’ distance no longer in question
Astronomers now know quasars live around black holes in remote galaxies, but 50 years ago, one researcher argued they were much closer.
- Physics
Like birds of a feather, sperm flock together
Studies of sperm show that they swim in groups because of the elasticity of the mucus they travel through.
- Planetary Science
Get your Pluto trivia down cold
Eight months after visiting Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft has delivered a wealth of details about the dwarf planet and its family of moons.
- Humans
Pacific islanders got a double whammy of Stone Age DNA
Neandertal and Denisovan genes influence the health of present-day Melanesians.
- Health & Medicine
Efforts to control mosquitoes take on new urgency
The major mosquito that is spreading Zika virus has quirks that make it one of the toughest to fight.
- Neuroscience
Lost memories retrieved for mice with signs of Alzheimer’s
Using light, scientists coaxed a forgotten memory from the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms.
- Paleontology
True nature of ‘Tully monster’ revealed
The identity of a 300-million-year-old enigmatic creature known as the “Tully monster” is a mystery no longer.
- Materials Science
Playing with building blocks for metamaterial design
Legos show promise as a low-cost method to assist scientists in developing novel metamaterials.
- Ecosystems
Australian fairy circles first to be found outside Africa
Strange patterns of grassland bald spots called fairy circles show up in Western Australia.
- Planetary Science
Wandering Jupiter could have swept inner solar system clean
If Jupiter formed close to the sun and then wandered out, that might explain why there are no planets interior to Mercury’s orbit.
- Paleontology
New tyrannosaur bridges gap from medium to monstrous
Horse-sized Timurlengia euotica had a brain and ears like its bigger relative Tyrannosaurus rex, which lived millions of years later.
- Anthropology
Ancient DNA reveals who is in Spain’s ‘pit of bones’ cave
Ancient DNA shows Neandertals lived in northern Spain 430,000 years ago; the early date raises new questions about Neandertals’ origins.
