All Stories by McKenzie Prillaman
- Archaeology
A prehistoric method for tailoring clothes may be written in bone
A punctured bone fragment was probably a leatherwork punch board. Perforated leather sewn together may have been seams in clothing.
- Science & Society
The Smithsonian’s ‘Lights Out’ inspires visitors to save the fading night sky
The exhibition examines how light pollution harms astronomy, ecosystems and human cultures. But it also offers hope.
- Animals
Invasive yellow crazy ants create male ‘chimeras’ to reproduce
Yellow crazy ants are first known species where chimerism is required in males: Each of their cells holds DNA from just one of two genetic lineages.
- Animals
These transparent fish turn rainbow with white light. Now, we know why
Repeated structures in the ghost catfish’s muscles separate white light that passes through their bodies into different wavelengths.
- Anthropology
Two scientists’ trek showed how people of Chaco Canyon may have hauled logs
By carrying a log with the aid of head straps called tumplines, the duo demoed how people may have hauled timbers to Chaco about 1,000 years ago.
- Neuroscience
Scientists have mapped an insect brain in greater detail than ever before
Researchers have built a nerve cell “connectivity map” of a larval fruit fly brain. It’s the most complex whole brain wiring diagram yet made.
- Archaeology
The Yamnaya may have been the world’s earliest known horseback riders
5,000-year-old Yamnaya skeletons show physical signs of horseback riding, hinting that they may be the earliest known humans to do so.
- Health & Medicine
Medicated eye drops may delay nearsightedness in children
Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a growing global health threat. But a Hong Kong study found that medicated eye drops may delay its onset in children.
- Health & Medicine
Psychedelics may improve mental health by getting inside nerve cells
Psychedelics can get inside neurons, causing them to grow. This might underlie the drugs’ potential in combatting mental health disorders.
- Health & Medicine
3-D maps of a protein show how it helps organs filter out toxic substances
Images of LRP2 in simulated cell environments reveal the structural changes that let it catch molecules outside a cell and release them inside.
- Health & Medicine
How fingerprints form was a mystery — until now
A theory proposed by British mathematician Alan Turing in the 1950s helps explain how fingerprint patterns such as arches and whorls arise.
- Animals
A newfound ‘croakless’ frog may communicate via touch
A newly discovered frog species in Tanzania joins a rare group of frogs that don’t croak or ribbit.
