Notebook
- Animals
There’s method in a firefly’s flashes
Fireflies use their flashing lights for mating and maybe even to ward away predators.
- Life
How salamanders can regrow nearly complete tails but lizards can’t
Differences in stem cells in the spinal cord explain the amphibians’ ability.
- Science & Society
Cheese found in an Egyptian tomb is at least 3,200 years old
Solid cheese preserved in an ancient Egyptian tomb may be the world’s oldest.
- Earth
In 1968, scientists tried taming hurricanes
For over 20 years, the U.S. government tried to subdue hurricanes through cloud seeding, with mixed results.
- Animals
This killifish can go from egg to sex in two weeks
The fastest known maturing vertebrate in the lab is even faster in the wild.
- Genetics
50 years ago, scientists took baby steps toward selecting sex
In 1968, scientists figured out how to determine the sex of rabbit embryos.
- Earth
You’re living in a new geologic age. It’s called the Meghalayan
The newly defined Meghalayan Age began at the same time as a global, climate-driven event that led to human upheavals.
- Animals
A new ankylosaur found in Utah had a surprisingly bumpy head
The spiky, fossilized skull of a newly discovered dinosaur species may be a road map to its ancestors’ journey to North America.
- Animals
Malaysia’s pig-tail macaques eat rats, head first
Pig-tail macaques are seen as a menace on Malaysian palm oil plantations, but may be helping to reduce rodent populations.
- Particle Physics
50 years ago, neutrinos ghosted scientists
In the last half-century, neutrino detectors have spotted particles cast out by the sun, supernova 1987A and a supermassive black hole.
- Animals
Surprise! This shark looks like a male on the outside, but it’s made babies
External male reproductive organs hid internal female capacity to give birth among hermaphrodite sharks in India.
- Health & Medicine
Air pollution is triggering diabetes in 3.2 million people each year
A new study quantifies the link between smoggy air and diabetes.
