News
- Neuroscience
How smart was T. rex?
A debate over how to count neurons in dinosaurs is raising questions about how to understand extinct animals’ behavior.
- Paleontology
How did an ancient shark parasite end up fossilized in tree resin?
A worm preserved in 99-million-year-old amber resembles modern flatworms in shark intestines. The rare finding has scientists stumped.
- Artificial Intelligence
Should we use AI to resurrect digital ‘ghosts’ of the dead?
Technology that creates deepfake bots of dead loved ones may need safeguards, experts warn.
- Animals
Tiger beetles may weaponize ultrasound against bats
In response to recordings of echolocating bats, tiger beetles emit noises that mimic toxic moths that bats avoid.
- Health & Medicine
Extreme heat will put millions more older adults at risk in the future
By 2050, as many as an additional 246 million adults 69 and older could experience temperature extremes that exceed 37.5° Celsius.
- Health & Medicine
Cows might host both human and bird flus
Both kinds of influenza viruses may break into cattle cells using receptors similar to those in people, wild birds and poultry.
- Health & Medicine
A new gel stops mice from getting too drunk
The iron-milk substance can break down alcohol fast and protect against liver damage in mice. Scientists hope to test the gel in people next.
- Cosmology
The universe may have a complex geometry — like a doughnut
Physicists haven’t yet ruled out the possibility that the universe has a complicated topology in which space loops back around on itself.
- Health & Medicine
Chronic asthma could be caused by cell overcrowding in the airways
Identifying drugs to reduce the excessive expulsion of cells in the lung lining could reduce the damage of chronic asthma.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, phantom pain was blamed on misfiring nerves
Researchers now know that the cause of post-amputation pain is more complex, which is leading to new treatments.
- Earth
A weaker magnetic field may have paved the way for marine life to go big
Decreased protection from cosmic radiation may have increased oxygen levels in the atmosphere and oceans, allowing animals to grow larger.
- Space
NASA’s budget woes put ambitious space research at risk
Mars Sample Return and missions to study other planets and celestial bodies, including lunar efforts, face big cuts and delays.
