Notebook
- Anthropology
More than 9,000-year-old decapitated head discovered in Brazil
Human decapitation goes back more than 9,000 years in the Americas.
- Animals
These fish would rather walk
Slowpokes of the sea, frogfish and handfish creep along the ocean bottom.
- Climate
Hurricane reports ignore indirect deaths
Nearly half of all hurricane and tropical storm fatalities are indirect, yet they typically aren’t included in official storm reports.
- Health & Medicine
In 1965, hopes were high for artificial hearts
Developing artificial hearts took longer than expected, and improved devices are still under investigation.
- Oceans
Giant barrel sponges are hijacking Florida’s coral reefs
Giant barrel sponges are gradually taking over and threatening Florida’s coral reefs, a new census suggests.
- Animals
For a female mosquito, the wrong guy can mean no babies
Male Asian tiger mosquitoes leave female yellow fever mosquitoes uninterested in mating with their own species, a process known as “satyrization.”
- Genetics
Evolution caught red-handed
Scientists have named a new gene on the fruit fly Y chromosome “flagrante delicto Y.”
- Genetics
Bad Karma can ruin palm oil crops
Missing epigenetic mark makes for Bad Karma and poor palm oil crops.
- Animals
When octopuses dance beak to beak
The larger Pacific striped octopus does sex, motherhood and shrimp pranks like nobody else.
- Anthropology
Minutes after encountering danger, lemurs yawn
Madagascar primates yawn within minutes of encountering threats.
- Paleontology
Earliest sea scorpion discovered in Iowa
Earliest sea scorpion discovered in impact crater in Iowa.
- Planetary Science
The sad magnetic state of the solar system’s rocky worlds
While a strong magnetic shield protects Earth from the sun’s occasional outbursts, the solar system’s other rocky planets are mostly defenseless.
