News
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Bee Concerned: Big study—Selective pollinators are declining
A new study provides evidence of a decline among some of Europe's insect pollinators and the wild plants that need them.
By Susan Milius - Physics
Terrific Timekeeper: Optical atomic clock beats world standard
An innovative atomic clock is more precise than the breed of clocks that's been the best for 50 years.
By Peter Weiss - Earth
Global warming heats up nursery of hurricanes
Sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean reached record highs last year.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Alaskan coral beds get new protection
To protect cold-water corals, huge areas of Alaskan waters will be off limits to trawls and other fishing gear that typically scrape the seafloor.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Ingredient might prevent sexually transmitted disease
A seaweed derivative that's commonly added to many consumer products as a thickening agent can inhibit the virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts.
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Mammoths: Blondes and brunettes?
The wool of woolly mammoths may have come in at least two shades.
- Plants
Orchid bends around to insert pollen
An orchid species in China has set a new record for acrobatics in self-pollination, twisting its male organs around and inserting them into the cavity where the female organ lies.
By Susan Milius -
Why people punish
When punishing criminals, people tend to seek retribution, not deterrence.
By Eric Jaffe - Animals
Stilts for ants make case for pedometer
Changing the leg length of desert ants upsets their ability to judge distance, providing the first evidence in any animal of a built-in odometer based on stride.
By Susan Milius - Planetary Science
Some deadly monikers
Two recently found small moons orbiting Pluto have now been officially dubbed Nix and Hydra.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Statins might lower risk of cataracts
Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins might slow the formation of certain types of cataracts in the eye.
By Nathan Seppa - Earth
Radiation Redux: Forest fires remobilize fallout from bomb tests
A sensor installed to monitor fallout from modern nuclear tests has detected small amounts of radioactive cesium produced by bomb tests decades ago and sent skyward by forest fires.
By Sid Perkins