News
-
Astronomy
Starry View: Image reveals galaxy’s violent past
The most detailed visible-light picture ever taken of the heavens reveals that the nearby Andromeda galaxy has had a much more violent history than our own Milky Way has.
By Ron Cowen -
Anthropology
Ancestral split in Africa, China
Environmental conditions may have encouraged Homo erectus to develop a level of social and tool-making complexity in Africa that the same species did not achieve in China.
By Bruce Bower -
Anthropology
Wari skulls create trophy-head mystery
A 1,000-year-old Peruvian site has yielded the remains of decapitated human heads that were used as ritual trophies but, to the researchers surprise, did not come from enemy warriors.
By Bruce Bower -
Anthropology
Jaw-dropping find emerges from Stone Age cave
A nearly complete lower jaw discovered in a Romanian cave last year and dating to around 35,000 years ago may represent the oldest known example of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Europe.
By Bruce Bower -
Paleontology
First Family’s last stand
New evidence indicates that about 3.2 million years ago, at least 17 Australopithecus afarensis individuals were killed at the same time by large predators at an eastern African site.
By Bruce Bower -
Astronomy
Fast-track planet
Astronomers have found a planet that's the closest yet known to its parent star, whipping around the star every 28.5 hours.
By Ron Cowen -
Second cold-sensing protein found
Researchers have found a second mammalian cell-surface protein that enables nerve cells to recognize cold temperatures.
By John Travis -
Animals
Ballistic defecation: Hiding, not hygiene
Evading predators may be the big factor driving certain caterpillars to shoot their waste pellets great distances.
By Susan Milius -
Health & Medicine
Upsetting a Delicate Balance: One gene may underlie various immune diseases
One form of an immune-system gene shows up more frequently in people with diabetes or certain thyroid diseases than in people free of those illnesses.
By Nathan Seppa -
Astronomy
Chemistry of the Cosmos: Quasars illuminate the young universe
Measuring the composition of some of the earliest structures in the universe, two teams of astronomers have unveiled new findings about star formation in the young cosmos.
By Ron Cowen -
Chemistry
Nanoscale Networks: Superlong nanotubes can form a grid
Researchers have made extraordinarily long carbon nanotubes and aligned them to create tiny transistors and sensors for detecting chemical and biological agents.
-
Paddle Power: Surprising shape of key cellular pore unveiled
A molecular pore that controls the flow of ions into cells has an unexpected shape and mechanism.
By John Travis