News
- Health & Medicine
Blame brain cells for lack of focus
Denser tissue in a particular brain region may result in higher distractibility, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Coronary bypass rates drop
Heart patients have been less likely to undergo the surgery since 2001, with many getting a less invasive procedure.
By Nathan Seppa - Life
Sickle-cell may blunt, not stop, malaria
Once thought to keep parasite out of cells, the trait appears to diminish the severity of infection.
- Humans
No nuts for you, Nutcracker Man
Tooth analysis shows huge-jawed hominid grazed on grasses and sedges.
By Bruce Bower - Earth
Grand Canyon born by continental lift
A "drip" deep within the Earth may have raised the Colorado plateau to create the spectacular landscape of the U.S. Southwest.
- Earth
With warming, Arctic is losing ground
Scientists anticipate big ecosystem changes as erosion spills nutrients into the sea
By Janet Raloff - Space
Former planet may have grown a tail
Pluto appears to trail a cometlike cloud of gas.
By Ron Cowen - Life
Zap! More fish
An upgraded brain underlies the wide diversity in a family of electric fish, scientists say.
- Earth
Currents reach deep for seafloor larvae
Surface waters circulate more than a mile down, transporting organisms between distant ocean-bottom habitats.
By Devin Powell - Tech
Nanotubes coming to a screen near you
New technology promises brighter, bigger display screens that use less energy.
- Life
Antarctic humpbacks make a krill killing
Late-arriving sea ice enhances crustacean feast for whales, but the bounty may be fleeting.
By Susan Milius - Humans
Most Neandertals were right-handers
Right handedness, and perhaps spoken language, originated at least a half million years ago, a new study suggests.
By Bruce Bower