News
- Animals
Single singing male toad seeks same
Male spadefoot toads of the Spea multiplicata species evaluate male competitors by the same criterion females use.
By Ruth Bennett -
Mice have a sharp nose for pheromones
Mice can detect pheromones with great sensitivity and in a way that's distinct from that of the main olfactory system.
By John Travis - Astronomy
Black holes and galaxies may grow up together
Astronomers have new and, for the first time, quantitative evidence that bigger black holes reside at the centers of bigger galaxies.
By Ron Cowen - Archaeology
Neandertals’ diet put meat in their bones
Chemical analyses of Neandertals' bones portray these ancient Europeans as skillful hunters and avid meat eaters, countering a theory that they mainly scavenged scraps of meat from abandoned carcasses.
By Bruce Bower -
Brain’s Moving Experience: Motion illusion yields a neural surprise
A brain-imaging study indicates that the primary motor cortex, the control center for issuing motor commands, also aids in the perception of the body's position and planning for upcoming movements.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Male Pill on the Horizon: Drug disables mouse sperm but wears off quickly
A new oral drug created to ease a genetic disorder could have contraceptive benefits.
- Ecosystems
Trust That Bird? A bit of future-think lets jays cooperate
A blue jay will cooperate with a buddy for mutual gain in food despite opportunities to betray the partnership.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Dust Up: Office bustle launches anthrax spores
The commotion of everyday business in indoor spaces contaminated with anthrax can launch the bacterium's dangerous spores into the air.
By Ben Harder - Planetary Science
Martian History: Weathering a new notion
Researchers suggest that intermittent impacts by huge asteroids and comets some 3.5 billion years ago profoundly influenced the landscape of Mars.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
First-Line Treatment: Chronic-leukemia drug clears a big hurdle
In its first large-scale test on newly diagnosed leukemia patients, the drug imatinib—also called Gleevec and STI-571—stopped or reversed the disease in nearly all patients receiving it.
By Nathan Seppa - Physics
Identity Check: Elusive neutrinos morph on Earth, as in space
Strengthening a challenge to the prevailing theory of particle physics, measurements of elusive particles called antineutrinos from nuclear reactors suggest that no neutrino types, be they matter or antimatter, have stable identities.
By Peter Weiss - Health & Medicine
Visionary science for the intestine
A tiny disposable flash camera that a person swallows can detect problems in the small intestine.
By Nathan Seppa