News
- Animals
Snake-eating spiders are surprisingly common
Spiders from at least 11 families feed on serpents many times their size, employing a host of tactics to turn even venomous snakes into soup.
- Physics
Black holes born with magnetic fields quickly shed them
New computer simulations show one way that black holes might discard their magnetic fields.
- Earth
Greece’s Santorini volcano erupts more often when sea level drops
During past periods of lower sea levels, when more of Earth’s water was locked up in glaciers during ice ages, the Santorini volcano erupted more.
- Astronomy
A super-short gamma-ray burst defies astronomers’ expectations
A faraway eruption of gamma rays that lasted for only a second had a surprising origin: the implosion of a massive star.
- Health & Medicine
New delta variant studies show the pandemic is far from over
The coronavirus’s delta variant is different from earlier strains of the virus in worrying ways, health officials are discovering.
- Anthropology
A skeleton from Peru vies for the title of oldest known shark attack victim
The 6,000-year-old remains of a teen with a missing leg and tell-tale bite marks came to light after news of a 3,000-year-old victim in Japan surfaced.
- Animals
Viruses can kill wasp larvae that grow inside infected caterpillars
Proteins found in viruses and some moths can protect caterpillars from parasitoid wasps seeking a living nursery for their eggs.
- Earth
Dinosaur-killing asteroid may have made Earth’s largest ripple marks
A tsunami created by the Chicxulub impact could have formed giant ripples found in rock under Louisiana, a new study finds.
- Animals
Polar bears sometimes bludgeon walruses to death with stones or ice
Inuit reports of polar bears using tools to kill walruses were historically dismissed as stories, but new research suggests the behavior does occur.
- Life
If confirmed, tubes in 890-million-year-old rock may be the oldest animal fossils
Newly described wormlike fossils may be ancient sea sponges. If confirmed, the fossils would reveal a remarkably early start to animal life.
- Life
Near-invincible tardigrades may see only in black and white
A genetic analysis suggests that water bears don’t have light-sensing proteins to detect ultraviolet light or color.
- Astronomy
The tiny dot in this image may be the first look at exomoons in the making
New ALMA observations offer some of the strongest evidence yet that planets around other stars have moons.
