News
- Anthropology
Buff upper arms let Lucy climb trees
Australopithecus afarensis’ heavily built arms supported tree climbing, scans of Lucy’s fossils suggest.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Mitochondria variants battle for cell supremacy
Some mitochondria are more competitive than others, which could complicate treatments for mitochondrial diseases.
- Health & Medicine
Low social status leads to off-kilter immune system
Low social status tips immune system toward inflammation seen in chronic diseases, a monkey study shows.
- Archaeology
Ancient cemetery provides peek into Philistines’ lives, health
Burial site offers new look at Israelites’ mysterious enemies.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Oldest alphabet identified as Hebrew
Contested study indicates ancient Israelites developed first alphabet from Egyptian hieroglyphics.
By Bruce Bower - Physics
Whirlpools might have stirred up baby universe’s soup
Vortices appear in the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions.
- Plants
Tweaking how plants manage a crisis boosts photosynthesis
Shortening plants’ recovery time after blasts of excessive light can boost crop growth.
By Susan Milius - Earth
How a ring of mountains forms inside a crater
Rocks drilled from the Chicxulub crater linked to the demise of the dinosaurs reveal how mountainous peak rings form within large impact craters.
- Astronomy
Mysterious radio signals pack power and brilliance
The brightest fast radio burst has been detected, while another team reveals a previous burst might have carried gamma rays as well as radio waves across space.
- Neuroscience
Protein linked to Parkinson’s travels from gut to brain
Parkinson’s protein can travel from gut to brain, mouse study suggests.
- Neuroscience
Sounds and glowing screens impair mouse brains
Too much light and noise screws up developing mice’s brains.
- Health & Medicine
Restless sleep associated with heart rhythm problems
Poor sleep, even without apnea, is tied to heart rhythm problems.
By Laura Beil