News
- Life
Parenthood: Male sharks need not apply
A second case of a virgin shark birth suggests some female sharks may be able to reproduce without males.
- Life
Climate warms, creatures head for the hills
Unusual data let scientists test predictions that global warming drives species up slopes.
By Susan Milius - Life
Community of one
Scientists have discovered how a single bacterial species living in a gold mine in South Africa survives on its own. Its genome contains everything it needs to live independently.
- Paleontology
New arthropod species really stuck together
Recent fossil discovery shows that new species of arthropod formed chains, raising the possibility of communal behavior.
- Life
A better understanding of inherited breast cancer
New studies on a type of inherited breast cancer identify a key factor with different roles in different cancers.
- Humans
New hand, same brain map
An investigation of a man who received a successful hand transplant suggests that reorganization of sensory maps in the brain following amputation can be reversed in short order.
By Bruce Bower - Earth
Lake Superior’s ups and downs
Analyses of trees and other organic material buried in a riverbank near Lake Superior’s northwestern shore shed new light on how much and when the lake level varied soon after the last ice age.
By Sid Perkins - Physics
An attractive source for spintronics
Discovery may lead to battery that generates magnetic currents
- Earth
Pterodactyls may soar once more
Paleontologists and aeronautical engineers are designing a reconnaissance drone that will mimic the flight of an ancient flying reptile.
By Sid Perkins -
- Health & Medicine
Flu shot in pregnancy protects newborns
Mothers-to-be impart antibodies to offspring that pay dividends later
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Origins of Maya pottery material remain mysterious
Scientists haven’t yet identified the source of volcanic ash used in Maya pottery, but they now have geochemical clues about the ash’s composition.
By Sid Perkins