All Stories
- Anthropology
Big Neandertal noses weren’t made for cold
Tiny cameras threaded inside a Neandertal skull provide evidence that their big noses were not an adaptation to cold climates.
- Animals
How male seahorses tap into their mothering side
By studying the genes responsible for the seahorse’s brood pouch, researchers uncovered a new route to “motherhood.”
- Health & Medicine
How a bacterial toxin linked to colon cancer messes with DNA
A closeup look at colibactin’s structure reveals chemical motifs that guide its mutation-wreaking “warheads” to specific stretches of DNA.
- Paleontology
Nanotyrannus is still not a teenage T. rex
Nanotyrannus wasn’t a juvenile T. rex but a petite adult of a separate species, a new study of fossil hyoid bones finds, bolstering a recent report.
- Psychology
Chatbots spewing facts, and falsehoods, can sway voters
Chatbots that dole out fact-laden arguments can sway voters. Those facts don’t have to be true.
- Earth
A volcanic eruption might have helped bring the Black Plague to Europe
A volcanic eruption may have triggered a deadly chain of events that brought the Black Plague to Europe in the 14th century.
- Animals
Ancient DNA reveals China’s first ‘pet’ cat wasn’t the house cat
The modern house cat reached China in the 8th century. Before that, another cat — the leopard cat — hunted the rodents in ancient Chinese settlements.
- Humans
Ancient southern Africans took genetic evolution in a new direction
An ancient, shared set of human-specific genes underwent changes in a geographically isolated population after around 300,000 years ago, scientists say.
- Earth
Human-caused earthquakes are real. Here’s why even stable regions can snap
Human activity can cause “healed” faults to release their stored strength, triggering unexpected quakes in tectonically stable regions.
- Physics
Twisted stacks of 2-D carbon act like a weird type of superconductor
“Magic-angle” graphene may provide new clues into poorly understood unconventional superconductors, which operate at higher-than-normal temperatures.
- Health & Medicine
Self-hypnosis with cooling mental imagery could ease hot flashes
Postmenopausal women who listened to self-guided hypnosis recordings daily for six weeks saw meaningful improvements in hot flash symptoms.
- Health & Medicine
Personalized ‘prehabilitation’ helps the body brace for major surgery
A small study finds that individualized prehab can dampen harmful immune responses and may reduce complications after an operation.
