News
- Climate
Development near natural areas puts more Californians in the path of wildfires
As urbanization extends its reach into once-natural areas, more homes and people are at risk from wildfires.
- Genetics
Coffee or tea? Your preference may be written in your DNA
Coffee or tea is a bitter choice, a taste genetics study suggests.
- Earth
A massive crater hides beneath Greenland’s ice
The discovery of a vast crater in Greenland suggests that a 1-kilometer-wide asteroid hit the Earth between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago.
- Anthropology
Skull damage suggests Neandertals led no more violent lives than humans
Neandertals’ skulls suggest they didn’t lead especially injury-prone lives.
- Animals
Sound-absorbent wings and fur help some moths evade bats
Tiny ultrathin scales on some moth wings absorb sound waves sent out by bats on the hunt.
- Animals
Climate change may have made the Arctic deadlier for baby shorebirds
What were once relatively safe havens in the Arctic are now feasting sites for predators of baby birds.
- Planetary Science
China is about to visit uncharted territory on the moon
The next two Chinese missions to the moon will visit places no spacecraft has been before. The rest of the world wants a piece of the lunar action.
- Health & Medicine
A potent fish oil drug may protect high-risk patients against heart attacks
People with, or at high risk of, cardiovascular disease lowered their chances of having a heart attack or stroke with a drug containing an omega-3 fatty acid.
- Health & Medicine
Vitamin D supplements don’t prevent heart disease or cancer
Vitamin D supplements won’t cut your risk of heart attack or stroke, according to highly anticipated study results.
- Genetics
Ancient DNA suggests people settled South America in at least 3 waves
Genetic studies of ancient remains are filling in the picture of who the earliest Americans were and how they spread through the Americas long ago.
- Planetary Science
Hints of Oort clouds around other stars may lurk in the universe’s first light
Sifting through the universe’s early light could reveal planetary graveyards orbiting other stars.
- Chemistry
These fragile, futuristic batteries run longer with a little oil
A redesign for batteries that use aluminum and oxygen could help these inexpensive, lightweight power cells last longer.
