News
- Chemistry
Lasers wrest oxygen from carbon dioxide
By zapping oxygen molecules off carbon dioxide, an experiment hints that Earth may have had breathable air long before the dawn of plants.
- Anthropology
Mysterious foreigner may have ruled ancient Maya kingdom
Bone chemistry suggests one of the early rulers of the Maya kingdom Copan and his retainers had foreign credentials.
- Neuroscience
Neuroscientists garner Nobel for discovering brain’s ‘inner GPS’
Three researchers who found brain cells that allow rats to orient themselves in space have won the 2014 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
- Quantum Physics
Photons on roundabout route could get caught in action
Proposed twist on classic double-slit experiment could identify light that weaves in and out.
- Physics
Signal of elusive Majorana particle emerges in a nanowire
New evidence supports existence of exotic Majorana particle — a particle that is its own antiparticle.
- Animals
Invasive rabbitfish team up to raze algal forests
Tropical rabbitfish have expanded into temperate Mediterranean waters, where they destroy algae forests by gobbling both young and adult algae.
- Oceans
Satellites expose mysteries of the deep ocean
New detailed map of Earth’s seafloor reveals never-before-seen formations.
- Neuroscience
High blood sugar could worsen effects of spinal injury
Studies in people and mice suggest reining in blood sugar can improve recovery from a spinal cord injury.
- Animals
Monarch butterflies’ ancestors migrated
The earliest monarch butterflies originated in North America and were migratory. Some of the insects later lost that ability as they moved into the tropics, a genetic analysis finds.
- Animals
Baby fish are noisier than expected
Gray snapper larvae may be able to communicate in open water using tiny knocks and growls.
- Climate
Missing winds probably foiled 2014’s chance for El Niño
Lack of antitrade winds probably hampered 2014 El Niño.
- Climate
19th century chronicles offer clues to mystery volcano
Meteorological records narrow down the time and place of a massive volcanic eruption that helped trigger a decade of extreme cold.
