Uncategorized
- Tech
Termite-inspired robots build structures without central command
Simple guidelines keep machines hauling and placing bricks.
- Neuroscience
Ways of seeing the brain inspire notions of how it works
As scientists have developed more sophisticated methods and ideas, their understanding of how the brain works has shifted too.
- Animals
Orangutans hit the ground walking
A surprising affinity for moving across the forest floor may aid threatened apes.
- Health & Medicine
Drug injection could limit heart attack damage
Study in pigs suggests hydrogel treatment might minimize the risk of heart failure in survivors.
- Physics
Getting warmer in attempt to reach ignition
Fusion energy output hits modest milestone at National Ignition Facility.
- Humans
Clovis baby’s genome unveils Native American ancestry
DNA from skeleton shows all tribes come from a single population.
- Life
Charms of small males may collapse a Darwin’s finch species
Mating rules may be changing for one of the storied Galápagos birds.
- Health & Medicine
Feedback
Calculating vaccines' impact, cat-induced bird death toll revised, taming wildcat genetics, and praise for The Science Life.
- Materials Science
Making it work, on paper and just maybe in practice
Last spring, Science News reported on the lack of progress by the main U.S. nuclear fusion effort. As the researchers still contend, laser-initiated fusion should work. It works on paper. But in practice, even a set of extremely powerful lasers failed to trigger the fusion of hydrogen nuclei and the concomitant chain reaction and release of net energy expected.
- Chemistry
Carbon monoxide junked for making plastic
Using a catalyst, chemists can swap in the less dangerous carbon dioxide.
- Archaeology
Nearly 1-million-year-old European footprints found
Erosion temporarily unveils remnants of a Stone Age stroll along England’s coast.
- Earth
The Sixth Extinction
On only five occasions in Earth’s long history has a large fraction of the planet’s biodiversity disappeared in a geological instant. But, journalist Kolbert reminds us in her new book, we are well on our way to making it six.
