News
- Life
Gene genesis
About a quarter of present-day life's DNA blueprint had been sketched out by 2.8 billion years ago, a new analysis finds.
- Animals
Female chimps play with ‘dolls’
Youngsters mimic mothering by cradling sticks, reigniting debate over sex differences in toy choices.
- Space
Cosmic reincarnation idea may be dead
Cosmological patterns that were recently put forth as evidence for a pre–Big Bang universe are easily explained by current theory, critics say.
- Earth
Bugged forests bad for climate
Trees savaged by pine beetles are slow to recover their ecological function as greenhouse gas sponges.
- Chemistry
Hornet pigment drives solar cell in lab
Though far from photosynthetic, an insect's light-harvesting apparatus intrigues scientists.
- Chemistry
Twisted rules of chemistry explained
A theorist uses quantum mechanics to explain why Möbius molecules have different numbers of electrons than standard rings.
- Humans
Google project launches new field of culture study
An analysis of digitized books probes language change, collective memory and other cultural developments from 1800 to 2000.
- Health & Medicine
No fear
A woman who lacks a basic brain structure, the amygdala, couldn’t be frightened no matter how hard researchers tried. And they tried.
- Earth
Climate action could save polar bears
Cutting fossil fuel emissions soon would retain enough sea ice habitat for threatened species, scientists say.
- Health & Medicine
Gene linked to some smokers’ lung cancer
FGFR1 is amped up in a subset of cancers; inhibiting its proteins can shrink tumors in mice.
- Earth
Gassy volcanoes tied to mass extinction
Chemicals from a massive Siberian eruption 250 million years ago may have polluted the atmosphere and killed off most life on the planet.
- Life
Mice missing protein burn more fat
Research on the receptor for the 'hunger hormone' suggests a molecular strategy for revving up the body’s furnace.
