News
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Life
DNA hints at polar bears’ Irish ancestry
Mitochondrial genetic analysis suggests a bit o’ hybridizing long ago with brown bears on the Emerald Isle.
By Susan Milius -
Earth
Greenland’s ice sheets face new threat
Subsurface ocean warming is likely to be dramatic in that region, a new study finds.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Sulfur stalls surface temperature rise
A new study shows how pollutants helped balance out the effects of greenhouse gases from 1998 to 2008.
By Nadia Drake -
Physics
Rare earth elements plentiful in ocean sediments
The economically vital metals could be mined from the deep sea, Japanese geologists propose.
By Devin Powell -
Life
Weevils evolved nut-and-screw joint
Insects invented hardware way back in dinosaur days.
By Susan Milius -
Psychology
Sleeping babies learn in an eyeblink
To learn about spoken words and other sounds, 1-month-old babies sleep on it.
By Bruce Bower -
Physics
You haven’t heard it all
An experimental sound cloak can acoustically conceal objects.
By Devin Powell -
Space
Most distant quasar raises questions
Superbright object appeared surprisingly soon after the Big Bang, challenging some theories about how black holes arose.
By Nadia Drake -
Life
Alzheimer’s plaques due to purging flaw
A gene controls the clearance of a protein that accumulates in the brains of people with the condition.
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Earth
BPA makes male mice less macho
Studies show that exposures in the womb or during adolescence can erase masculine habits or reverse sexes' behavior.
By Janet Raloff -
Animals
Lionfish no match for big groupers
Despite its invasive success, the lionfish can't withstand grouper appetites.
By Janet Raloff