News
- Earth
Earth’s oceans are storing record-breaking amounts of heat
2020 was just the latest in a series of record-breaking years for ocean heat.
- Paleontology
Newborn megalodon sharks were larger than most adult humans
Preserved pieces of backbone suggest that megalodon sharks were about 2 meters long at birth.
- Neuroscience
Mice may ‘catch’ each other’s pain — and pain relief
Healthy mice mirror a companion’s pain or morphine-induced relief. Disrupting certain connections in the brain turns off such empathetic behaviors.
- Animals
Brown tree snakes use their tails as lassos to climb wide trees
A never-before-seen climbing technique could inspire the creation of new serpentine robots to navigate difficult terrains.
- Climate
Ocean acidification may make some species glow brighter
Ocean organisms use bioluminescence for hunting, defense and more. A new analysis shows that declines in water pH might change who glows and how much.
- Earth
Reawakened Yellowstone geyser isn’t a sign of imminent explosion
The 2018 reactivation of Yellowstone’s Steamboat Geyser isn’t a portent of dangerous volcanic or hydrothermal eruptions, scientists say.
- Health & Medicine
A new polio vaccine joins the fight to vanquish the paralyzing disease
Work on the ground to vaccinate children continues in the push to finally eradicate polio.
- Chemistry
This weird chemical bond acts like a mash-up of hydrogen and covalent bonds
Chemistry students are taught that hydrogen bonds and covalent bonds are distinct, but a new study shows they exist on a continuum.
- Genetics
Some identical twins don’t have identical DNA
Mutations arising early in development may account for genetic differences between identical twins.
- Anthropology
Ice Age hunters’ leftovers may have fueled dog domestication
Ancient people tamed wolves by feeding them surplus game, researchers suggest.
- Health & Medicine
Severe allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines are extremely rare, CDC says
Out of the first 1.9 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine given in the United States, there were 21 reported cases of anaphylaxis, a CDC study finds.
- Genetics
Plague may have caused die-offs of ancient Siberians
DNA suggests that the deadly bacterium that causes the plague reached northeast Asia by 4,400 years ago.
