Uncategorized
- Earth
Spot the northern lights with Aurorasaurus
Crowdsourced Aurorasaurus project uses Twitter to track the northern lights.
- Climate
Fewer cold snaps in the forecast
Rapid Arctic warming will reduce the frequency of cold snaps throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, new research suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Early birth control study probed effectiveness of pill
A 1960s study probed birth control pills’ effectiveness for women. Researchers are still trying to make a pill for men.
- Astronomy
Fountains of spewing gas provide look at megastar formation
Fountains of gas erupt from a young massive star, giving astronomers a play-by-play on how stellar heavyweights form.
- Anthropology
Footprints offer clues about daily hominid life
Early male members of the human genus spent a lot of time together by the water, as their footprints attest.
By Bruce Bower - Neuroscience
Rats can navigate mazes, even when blind
Blind rats can learn to navigate with a compass and microchip prosthetic wired into their brains. Similar devices may one day help humans have super senses.
- Animals
Fossilized seashells’ true colors revealed
To the naked eye, fossilized seashells lack the colorful patterns of their living counterparts. But ultraviolet light can reveal some of their unique hues.
- Health & Medicine
A more accurate prenatal test to predict Down syndrome
A test to detect genetic problems such as Down syndrome examines a baby’s DNA in the mother’s blood and may limit the need for more invasive screening.
- Anthropology
Kennewick Man’s bones reveal his diet
Pacific Northwest man who lived 9,000 years ago ate from an almost entirely seafood menu, a new analysis finds.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Injured baby hearts may be coaxed to regenerate
Shots of a growth factor protein reduce cell death in infant mice with heart damage.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Older moms may have options to reduce newborns’ risks
Although babies born to older mothers face a higher danger of congenital heart defects, exercising moms may offset this added risk, a study in mice shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Anthropology
‘Little Foot’ pushes back age of earliest South African hominids
Study suggests Lucy’s species had a South African foil nearly 3.7 million years ago.
By Bruce Bower