News
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Sexual selection: Darwin does Jamaica
A study of young Jamaicans dancing to pop music suggests that some of Darwin's ideas about animal courtship may apply to people.
- Animals
First maternal care filmed in squid
At least one squid species turns out to be a caring mom after all, say researchers who filmed the creatures using remote-control cameras positioned deep in the Pacific Ocean. With Video.
- Astronomy
Gauging Star Birth: Spacecraft uses gamma rays as stellar tracer
Using radioactive material spewed into space by dying stars, astronomers have measured the star-formation rate in our galaxy over the past few million years.
- Earth
Mass movement
Two satellites designed to note small changes in Earth's gravitational field detected effects of the magnitude 9.3 earthquake that occurred west of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004.
- Physics
Quantum Chip: Device handles ions as if they were data
A new microchip can trap and move an ion, preliminary steps toward carrying out quantum computations on a chip.
- Animals
Locust Upset: DNA puts swarmer’s origin in Africa
The desert locust was not an ancient export from the Americas, according to a new DNA analysis.
- Chemistry
Molecular Car Park: Material packs in carbon dioxide
A porous, crystalline material composed of metal and organic building blocks holds more carbon dioxide than other porous substances do.
- Earth
Gunning for the Gut: Tiny particles might fight invasive zebra mussels
By modifying a technique used to flavor foods, researchers have made a substance that poisons the zebra mussel.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer Clue: Busy brain connections may have downside
Brain areas that are chronically activated have excess amyloid beta, the waxy protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.
- Anthropology
Stone Age Footwork: Ancient human prints turn up down under
An ancient, dried-up lakeshore in Australia has yielded the largest known collection of Stone Age footprints, made about 20,000 years ago.
- Earth
Estimating a temblor’s strength on the fly
New analyses of ground motions caused by large earthquakes suggest that it may be possible to estimate the full magnitude of such quakes immediately after they start rumbling.
- Tech
Facing a hairy electronics problem
Investigating why kinky metal filaments sprout spontaneously on electronic- circuit cards, researchers have found that the way metal films have been electroplated onto the surface in the first place plays a lingering role.
