Uncategorized
- Physics
Early quark estimates not entirely realized
Decades of research have shed a little light on quarks, the mysterious building blocks of atoms.
- Climate
2015 smashed heat records
Spurred by global warming and a “super El Niño,” 2015 now ranks as the warmest year since record-keeping began in 1880.
- Planetary Science
Time running out on comet lander
Philae’s days are numbered as temperatures on comet 67P drop and attempts to communicate with the lander fail.
- Anthropology
Attack 10,000 years ago is earliest known act of warfare
Human skeletons unearthed in East Africa show signs of a roughly 10,000-year-old lethal raid.
- Humans
No fairy tale: Origins of some famous stories go back thousands of years
Pairing folktales with ancient languages shows that at least a few folktales originated thousands of years ago.
- Life
MicroRNAs manage gut microbes
MicroRNAs mold gut microbes into healthier communities for the host.
- Climate
Atmospheric tides alter rainfall rate
Atmospheric tides caused by the moon’s gravitational pull ever-so-slightly alter rainfall rates on Earth by producing rises and falls in atmospheric pressure.
- Science & Society
Human evolution, biomimicry and more go on display
A new human evolution gallery and a lecture series on Europa are among science events to explore in February 2016.
- Oceans
Ocean heating doubles
Earth’s oceans now absorb twice as much heat as they did 18 years ago, with more than a third of that warmth going into the ocean depths.
- Astronomy
The votes are in: Exoplanets get new names
Arion, Galileo and Poltergeist are just three winners of a contest to name planets and suns in 20 solar systems.
- Genetics
Bubonic plague hung out in Europe
The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis may have lurked in a medieval European reservoir for at least 300 years, researchers from Germany suggest January 13 in PLOS ONE.
- Life
Search is on for missing pieces in puzzle of male genital diversity
The debate over extreme diversity of male genitalia needs to rethink the female side. And the landscape.
