News
- Materials Science
Latest claim of turning hydrogen into a metal may be the most solid yet
If true, the study would complete a decades-long quest to find the elusive material. But such claims have been made prematurely many times before.
- Health & Medicine
In mice, a high-fat diet cuts a ‘brake’ used to control appetite
A fatty diet changes the behavior of key appetite-regulating cells in a mouse brain.
- Astronomy
In a first, telescopes tracked a lone fast radio burst to a faraway galaxy
First-time observations suggest that the cause of one-time fast radio bursts is different from what triggers repeatedly flashing radio bursts.
- Health & Medicine
Antioxidants may encourage the spread of lung cancer rather than prevent it
Antioxidants protect lung cancer cells from free radicals, but also spur metastasis, two new studies suggest.
- Animals
Some ancient crocodiles may have chomped on plants instead of meat
Fossil teeth of extinct crocodyliforms suggest that some ate plants and that herbivory evolved at least three times in crocs of the Mesozoic Era.
- Genetics
DNA reveals a European Neandertal lineage that lasted 80,000 years
Ancient DNA from cave fossils in Belgium and Germany shows an unbroken genetic line of the extinct hominids emerged at least 120,000 years ago.
- Paleontology
Signs of the color blue have been found in a fossil for the first time
Scientists think they’ve spotted hints of blue plumage in a fossilized bird from 48 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
3-D mammograms are popular, but are they better than 2-D?
The use of digital breast tomosynthesis, a newer breast cancer screening technology with limited evidence, has risen in recent years.
- Microbes
Gut microbes might help elite athletes boost their physical performance
Veillonella bacteria increased in some runners’ guts after a marathon, and may make a compound that might boost endurance, a mouse study suggests.
- Archaeology
Capuchin monkeys’ stone-tool use has evolved over 3,000 years
A Brazilian archaeological site reveals capuchins’ long history of practical alterations to pounding implements, researchers say.
- Astronomy
The highest-energy photons ever seen hail from the Crab Nebula
An experiment in Tibet spotted photons with over 100 trillion electron volts of energy.
- Animals
Parasites ruin some finches’ songs by chewing through the birds’ beaks
Parasitic fly larvae damage the beaks of Galápagos finches, changing their mating songs and possibly causing females to pick males of a different species.
