3,875 results
- Materials Science
Want a ‘Shrinky Dinks’ approach to nano-sized devices? Try hydrogels
Patterning hydrogels with a laser and then shrinking them down with chemicals offers a way to make nanoscopic structures out of many materials.
- Humans
Lauren Schroeder looks beyond natural selection to rethink human evolution
Paleoanthropologists studying the fossil record have long focused on natural selection, but other processes play a big role too.
- Animals
Here are 3 people-animal collaborations besides dolphins and Brazilians
Dolphins working with people to catch fish recently made a big splash. But humans and other animals have cooperated throughout history.
- Paleontology
‘Thunder beast’ fossils show how some mammals might have gotten big
Rhinolike mammals called brontotheres repeatedly evolved into bigger and smaller species, a fossil analysis shows. The bigger ones won out over time.
- Climate
What’s causing this summer’s extreme heat waves?
Climate change and meandering jet streams are fomenting this summer’s extreme waves of heat.
- Animals
Dry pet food may be more environmentally friendly than wet food
The environmental cost of wet pet food is higher than dry food, scientists say. That may be because wet food gets most of its calories from animals.
- Plants
Stressed plants make ultrasonic clicking noises
Tomato and tobacco plants emit high frequency sounds, which could one day find a use in agriculture, as a way to detect thirsty crops.
- Animals
Fish can recognize themselves in photos, further evidence they may be self-aware
Cleaner fish recognize themselves in mirrors and photos, suggesting that far more animals may be self-aware than previously thought.
- Health & Medicine
Flint grapples with the mental health fallout from the water disaster
The water crisis started almost a decade ago. Residents of Flint, Mich., are still healing from the disaster — and caring for their own.
- Animals
Chicken DNA is replacing the genetics of their ancestral jungle fowl
Up to half of modern jungle fowl genes have been inherited from domesticated chickens. That could threaten the wild birds’ long-term survival.
- Paleontology
This dinosaur might have used its feet to snag prey in midair like modern hawks
Fossilized toe pads suggest a hawklike hunting style in Microraptor, a dinosaur that some scientists think could hunt while flying.
- Animals
Ed Yong’s ‘An Immense World’ reveals how animals perceive the world
The book showcases the diverse sensory abilities of other animals and how their view of the world is different from our own.
