Uncategorized
- Paleontology
Pieces of an Ancestor: African site yields new look at ancient species
Fossils unearthed at sites in eastern Africa provide a rare look at Ardipithecus ramidus, a member of the human evolutionary family that lived more than 4 million years ago.
- Planetary Science
A World Unveiled: Crème brûlée on Titan
Penetrating the orange haze of a frigid, alien world, a space probe parachuted onto Saturn's moon Titan and unexpectedly came face-to-face with terrain that looks a lot like Earth.
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19507
Titan may represent conditions that existed on Earth when life arose. One important difference is the extremely cold temperature on Titan. However, the known life cycle of stars predicts that, at some time in the far distant future, our sun will gradually expand. As that happens, Titan will heat up, and that may be sufficient […]
- Astronomy
Stars in the dust
The dusty disks surrounding three nearby stars show that they played host to massive collisions between asteroid-like objects as recently as 100 years ago.
- Astronomy
Zooming in on a great void
New X-ray observations provide the most detailed view yet of the environment near a supermassive black hole.
- Materials Science
Magnetic nanorods on cruise control
Chemists have created miniature engines out of nanoscale metallic rods that propel themselves using chemical energy.
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Whalebones show damage from diving
Long-lived sperm whales typically develop bone damage not previously observed in marine mammals but found in some human divers who surface quickly or dive frequently.
- Earth
Air pollution trims fetal growth
Pregnant women who breathe polluted air deliver babies that are typically slightly smaller than those born to other mothers.
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Getting to gray hair’s roots
Scientists have unveiled a root cause for why hair goes gray.
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Goodnight moon, hello Mom and Dad
A California survey indicates that the practice of allowing babies and toddlers to sleep in the same bed as their parents do occurs in two forms, each with its own implications for the quality of family sleep and the children's psychological development.
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19506
This article attributes behaviors of earlier bedtime, longer sleeping, and earlier weaning to “greater personal independence” in children who sleep alone. It is equally possible that these behaviors are due to something else. Research predicting which children and families will benefit from co-sleeping or alone sleeping would be more useful. Heather Kuiper and Loren RauchOakland, […]
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Same brain region handles whistles and words
Brain areas already implicated in the use and comprehension of spoken language play comparable roles in the whistled messages of shepherds living on an island near Spain.
