News
- Chemistry
Oldest evidence for complex life in doubt
Chemical biomarkers in ancient Australian rocks, once thought to be the oldest known evidence of complex life on Earth, may have infiltrated long after the sediments were laid down, new analyses suggest.
By Sid Perkins - Archaeology
An ancient healer reborn
A research team in Israel has uncovered one of the oldest known graves of a shaman. The 12,000-year-old grave hosts a woman’s skeleton surrounded by the remains of unusual animals.
By Bruce Bower - Space
Hubble repair mission delayed yet again
Even as the Hubble Space Telescope was able to snap an image after several weeks of idling, a mission to visit and upgrade Hubble suffered another delay.
By Ron Cowen - Animals
Bat syndrome’s telltale white nose-mold new to science
Newly cultured fungus named as a suspect in deadly white-nose syndrome
By Susan Milius - Humans
Stone Age innovation out of Africa
Researchers have dated two innovative Stone Age tool industries in southern Africa that may have helped spur human migrations out of Africa.
By Bruce Bower - Life
The Iceman’s mysterious genetic past
Scientists say that they have identified the complete mitochondrial DNA sequence of the 5,000-year-old Tyrolean Iceman, whose body was found protruding from a glacier in 1991.
By Bruce Bower - Space
MESSENGER glimpses Mercury’s Western hemisphere, new features
The results are in from MESSENGER’s second flyby of Mercury, one of the least-explored planets in the solar system.
- Health & Medicine
A sugar helps E. coli go down
Some harmful strains of E. coli might rely on something sweet to do harm.
- Animals
Farm chemicals can indirectly hammer frogs
A widely used agricultural weed killer teams up with fertilizer to render frogs especially vulnerable to debilitating parasites.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Malaria takes on the top meds
Malaria is thwarting frontline drugs called artemisinins in Cambodia.
By Nathan Seppa - Life
Salmon study: Dammed or not
Columbia River salmon have troubles all right, but dams may no longer top the list.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Fungal meningitis spreads in Pacific Northwest
A fungus called Cryptococcus gattii that causes meningitis is slowly making its way down the North American West Coast.
By Nathan Seppa