News
- Tech
The descent of music
Using an evolutionary process, researchers create pleasing tunes out of grating noise.
- Astronomy
Giant celestial disk hard to explain
A star's oversized debris ring challenges theories of planet formation.
By Nadia Drake - Life
Chicks do worse in noisy nests
Baby bluebirds, and their parents, appear to have trouble communicating over the racket made by nearby humans.
By Susan Milius - Humans
Color this chimp amazing
An extra layer of sensory perception called synesthesia might help ape make a monkey of humans on memory tests.
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- Earth
13th century volcano mystery may be solved
Indonesian volcano may be the culprit in the biggest eruption of the last seven millennia.
- Humans
European cave art gets older
Ancient illustrations in northern Spain date to more than 40,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Grasshoppers’ terror outlives them
After an existence plagued by predatory spiders, the insects pass into oblivion, leaving a legacy of impoverished soil.
By Devin Powell - Life
Calcium offers clues in mass extinction
Ocean acidification during Permian period may have caused the Great Dying.
By Devin Powell - Health & Medicine
Diet sodas may confuse brain’s ‘calorie counter’
Among regular consumers of sugar-free soft drinks, networks that equate sweet flavors with energy intake may grow numb to the real stuff.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Ancient volcanoes destroyed ozone
Prehistoric eruptions gave off huge amounts of a gas that erodes the UV-blocking atmospheric layer.
- Health & Medicine
Fish oil components may not benefit everyone’s heart
A six-year study finds that omega-3 fatty acids don't lower heart risk in people with diabetes.
By Nathan Seppa