News
- Anthropology
Maize may have fueled ancient Andean civilization
A chemical analysis of skeletons from Peru’s Andes Mountains suggests that cultivation of key crop made building a prehistoric civilization possible.
By Bruce Bower - Physics
Graphene gains nearly perfect liquid status
Scientists have found that electrons in a layer of carbon atoms can become a strongly interacting swirling soup.
- Physics
Capping the length of extra dimensions
The existence of a small, elderly black hole places a new upper limit on the length of any extra dimension, a new study suggests.
By Ron Cowen - Life
Hornets suffocate in bee ball
Researchers find a spike in carbon dioxide, along with an increase in heat, makes honeybees' enemies vulnerable.
- Life
Climate change shrinks sheep
Milder winters help small, weak lambs survive but more competition for food slows growth.
By Susan Milius - Earth
New cyclone predictor
Researchers link occasional sea-surface warming in central Pacific with more, stronger hurricanes in North Atlantic.
By Sid Perkins - Life
New drug hits leukemia early
An experimental drug may stop a deadly leukemia in its early stages, a study of mice shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Chemistry
Concerns over bisphenol A continue to grow
Recent research finds that the hormone mimic may be more prevalent and more harmful than previously thought, highlighting why BPA is a growing worry for policy makers.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Schizophrenia risk gets more complex
Three studies find that large collections of variants, rather than just a few key mutations, probably predispose someone to schizophrenia.
- Psychology
2-year-olds possess grammatical insights
Toddlers discern basic rules for using nouns and verbs at least one year before speaking in complete sentences, French brain researchers report.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Salamanders don’t regrow limbs from scratch
A closer look at regeneration in axolotl amputees shows that tissue replacement relies on cellular “memory.”
- Physics
Mass mismatch makes mystery for proton’s strange cousin
An exotic cousin of the proton is caught in action again. But its measured mass doesn’t match previous results.