News

Animals

Bacterial compounds may be as good as DEET at repelling mosquitoes

A bacterium’s metabolic by-products are as effective as DEET in deterring Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Anthropology

An ancient child from East Asia grew teeth like a modern human

Choppers from a youngster with an unknown evolutionary background indicate that hominids evolved a humanlike life span in East Asia by 100,000 years ago.

Paleontology

A four-legged robot hints at how ancient tetrapods walked

Using fossils, computer simulations and a life-size walking robot, researchers re-created how an early tetrapod may have made tracks.

Health & Medicine

A new 3-D printed ‘sponge’ sops up excess chemo drugs

Researchers have created “sponges” that would absorb excess cancer drugs before they spread through the body and cause negative side effects.

Psychology

Easing test anxiety boosts low-income students’ biology grades

Wealthier students outperform their less advantaged peers in math and science. Decreasing test anxiety may help even the playing field.

Cosmology

A cosmic flare called the ‘Cow’ may reveal a new way that stars die

A burst of light from far away may have been an odd type of exploding star or a white dwarf being eaten by a black hole.

Tech

Desalination pours more toxic brine into the ocean than previously thought

Desalination plants help offset the world’s growing water needs, but they also produce much more supersalty water than scientists realized.

Science & Society

Here’s how the record-breaking government shutdown is disrupting science

The partial government shutdown is taking many U.S. scientists out of commission and putting up hurdles to their research.

Climate

A drill built for Mars is being used to bore into Antarctic bedrock

An autonomous drill originally designed for work on Mars has its first mission in Antarctica.

Animals

How worm blobs behave like a liquid and a solid

Blobs of worms flow like a fluid, plop like a solid and fascinate scientists.

Neuroscience

Nerve cells from people with autism grow unusually big and fast

In some forms of autism, nerve cells develop faster than normal, possibly setting the stage for the disorder, a study finds.

Animals

Poison toilet paper reveals how termites help rainforests resist drought

Novel use of poisoned toilet paper rolls and teabags led to discovery that termites help tropical forests resist droughts.