Uncategorized
- Archaeology
Ancient stone-tool making method arose multiple times
Hominids in both Africa and Eurasia independently invented a flake-tool technique hundreds of thousands of years ago, countering a long-held idea in archaeology.
By Meghan Rosen - Tech
Solar cell powers water-to-hydrogen conversion
High efficiency could make perovskite solar cells useful for generating environmentally friendly fuel.
By Sam Lemonick - Neuroscience
Mighty muscles may stave off depression
Strong muscles protect the brain from stress-induced toxin associated with depression, a study in mice suggests.
- Science & Society
Syria’s World Heritage Sites severely damaged by war
Satellite images reveal that five of the country’s six World Heritage Sites have suffered damage and some structures have been completely destroyed.
By Beth Mole - Life
Fledgling birds change rules for caterpillar color
An unusual experiment shows that larvae lose the advantage of warning colors during the seasonal flush of naïve predators.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Sneaky little giraffe weevils beat big rivals
A little stealth gives smaller giraffe weevil males a leg up when competing with big ones for mates.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Recovery time from surgery foretold
Blood samples taken from patients after surgery might reveal who is destined for a quick rebound.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
More than 1 million Ebola cases may hit West Africa by January
New projections of the outbreak suggest that without drastic improvements, weekly cases could increase from hundreds to thousands.
By Nathan Seppa and Janet Raloff - Astronomy
Water found on Neptune-sized world
Just four times as wide as Earth, HAT-P-11b is the smallest exoplanet known to store water in its atmosphere.
- Cosmology
Gravitational wave discovery gives way to Milky Way dust
New polarization maps from the Planck satellite suggest that the BICEP2 announcement this year of primordial gravitational waves might be due entirely to dust in our galaxy.
- Tech
Hybrid robot merges flier with two snakelike machines
A helicopter robot can airlift snakelike search-and-rescue bots out of tight situations.
By Meghan Rosen - Health & Medicine
Statins may improve odds of surviving a bleeding stroke
Common cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins may help people who have suffered a stroke caused by ruptured blood vessels.
By Nathan Seppa