News
- Archaeology
Greeks followed a celestial Olympics
A Greek gadget discovered more than a century ago in a 2,100-year-old shipwreck not only tracked the motion of heavenly bodies and predicted eclipses, but also functioned as a sophisticated calendar and mapped the four-year cycle of the ancient Greek Olympics.
- Planetary Science
Cassini finds liquid ethane on Titan
After years of speculation, planetary scientists have now confirmed that Titan has at least one lake made of liquid ethane.
- Life
How the snake got its fangs
A study of snake embryos suggests that fangs evolved once, then moved around in the head to give today’s snakes a variety of bites.
- Health & Medicine
Calcium’s possible role in Alzheimer’s
A new study in mice finds that plaques associated with Alzheimer’s wreak havoc on calcium’s role in cell signaling.
- Paleontology
Soft tissue in fossils still mysterious
New research suggests modern biofilms could contaminate ancient fossils.
- Health & Medicine
To catch a cheat
Drug test cheaters find quick fixes on the Web, but toxicologists aren’t so easily fooled.
- Life
Nature’s chronic boozers
Tree shrews pub-crawl nightly from flower to flower for fermented palm nectar.
- Health & Medicine
Statins versus dementia
Statins, developed to fight cholesterol, may also prevent some dementia, a study of older Hispanics finds.
- Computing
Building ‘The Matrix’
Simulating new materials could help in building them — but only quantum simulators could fully model reality. A team reports a first step in realizing quantum simulation.
- Health & Medicine
A chink in flu’s armor
Finding the shape of a protein that enables the flu virus to replicate points to ways to combat the disease.
- Ecosystems
Nomadic ants hunt mushrooms
A species of ants not well understood surprises researchers with a nomadic lifestyle, roaming the rainforest on fungal forays.
- Psychology
Core calculations
Number words may serve as mental tools for expanding on basic, nonverbal numerical knowledge rather than as determinants of such knowledge.
