News
- Climate
Fizzled 2014 El Niño fired up ongoing monster El Niño
The ongoing El Niño, one of the strongest on record, got a heat boost from a 2014 event that failed due to unfavorable winds.
- Neuroscience
Evidence conflicts on iron’s role in Parkinson’s disease
Experiments yield conflicting results about whether vulnerable nerve cells have too much or too little iron.
- Anthropology
Risky skull surgery done for ritual reasons 6,000 years ago
Some ancient skull surgeries hinged on ritual, not on medical treatment.
- Particle Physics
Theorists perplexed by hints of unexpected new particle
Hints of a potential new particle at the LHC have scientists excited, and theoretical physicists are beginning to converge on explanations.
- Animals
Dragons sleep like mammals and birds
Some lizards may sleep in the same way as mammals and birds, a new brain wave study finds.
- Neuroscience
Ions may be in charge of when you sleep and wake
The recipe for sleep and wake may depend on ions.
- Neuroscience
Words’ meanings mapped in the brain
Language isn’t just confined to one region of the brain: The meaning of words spark activity all over the cerebral cortex.
- Astronomy
Gas blasts from black holes show surprising alignment
Unexpected alignment of galactic gas geysers might offer new insight into how galaxies and black holes arise from the cosmic web.
- Humans
Gelada monkeys know their linguistic math
The vocalizations of gelada monkeys observe a mathematical principle seen in human language, a new study concludes.
- Life
Gene found that controls beak size in Darwin’s finches
A beak-size gene helped determine whether Darwin’s finches survived a drought.
- Paleontology
Clearer picture emerging of dinosaurs’ last days
Dinosaurs’ final days may have included both a giant asteroid and gradual species die outs. Two new studies paint an increasingly intricate picture of dinosaur’s demise.
- Neuroscience
Left brain stands guard while sleeping away from home
Part of the left hemisphere stands sentry while the rest of the brain and body snooze.
