News
- Earth
Cave formations yield seismic clues
Analyses of toppled stalagmites and other fallen rock formations in two Israeli caves may provide hints about the rate of ancient earthquakes in the area.
- Animals
Many fish run on empty
Many fish eat all the time, while some others spend their days going from brief feast to lengthy famine.
- Health & Medicine
Protein flags colon, prostate cancers
A compound first identified as a possible culprit in Huntington's disease may be an indicator of cancers of the prostate gland and colon.
- Animals
Singing frog in China evokes whales, primates
A frog in China warbles and flutes with such versatility that its high-pitched calls sound like those of birds or whales.
- Health & Medicine
Arctic Sneeze: Greenlanders’ allergies are increasing
Allergies in Greenland nearly doubled from 1987 to 1998.
- Chemistry
Wine Tasting: Instrument can sniff out vinegar in sealed wine
A new system could determine whether a sealed bottle of wine has turned to vinegar.
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Chimp Change: Did an HIV-like virus ravage early chimps?
Modern chimpanzees may be the offspring of survivors of an HIV-like pandemic that took place 2 million years ago.
- Physics
Bitty Beacon: Wee disks probe materials at microscales
Illuminated by lasers, disks no larger than red blood cells can project rotating beams bright enough to create a light show in a darkened room.
- Anthropology
Lost-and-Found Fossil Tot: Neandertal baby rises from French archive
The approximately 40,000-year-old skeleton of a Neandertal baby, filed and forgotten in a French museum for nearly 90 years, has been recovered by an anthropologist.
- Planetary Science
Pluto and the Occult: Rare events illuminate Pluto’s atmosphere
Twice in the past month, astronomers were given a rare opportunity to peer through the tenuous atmosphere of Pluto.
- Animals
Ant Enforcers: To call in punishment, top ant smears rival
In Brazilian ant colonies where a female has to fight her way to the top, she stays in power through some judicious gang violence.
- Health & Medicine
Stroke Stopper: New vaccine curbs blood vessel damage in lab animals
A vaccine that desensitizes the immune system to a protein inside blood vessels prevents some strokes in laboratory rats.
