Uncategorized
- Plants
Drought-tolerant plant mined for survival genes
A drought-resistant South African plant is revealing its genetic secrets.
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Tests revise image of kangaroo rats
An ecological study of kangaroo rats has revised thinking about how these desert dwellers cope with their stressful home.
- Anthropology
Fossil skull spurs identity dispute
A dispute has broken out over whether a recently discovered, 7-million-year-old fossil skull represents the earliest known member of the human evolutionary family or an ancient ape.
- Earth
Haze clears on sooty climate conditions
The results of a new study suggest that soot plays a bigger role in regional climate changes than scientists had previously realized.
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Spreading Consciousness
A reanalysis of brain-imaging data links conscious visual experience to activity patterns throughout the brain, challenging the popular view that specific brain areas coordinate this mental state.
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The most profound consequence of the research in this article is that there is no such thing as “now.” Since consciousness is spread out across the brain, and since those centers of brain activity cannot communicate faster than the speed of light, “now” is not the hard point in time we usually imagine. Rick NorwoodJohnson […]
- Math
Completing Latin Squares
Using only the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, arrange four sets of these numbers into a four-by-four array so that no column or row contains the same two numbers. The result is known as a Latin square. Here are two examples of Latin squares of order 4: 1 2 3 4 2 1 4 […]
- Earth
Shifting Sands
Sand dunes can provide scientists with clues about ancient patterns of wind and precipitation.
- Physics
Ring around the proton
An orbiting electron accelerated to relativistic velocities by a laser in a strong magnetic field can behave like a ring-shaped electron cloud spinning around the nucleus.
- Physics
Writing with warm atoms
Researchers demonstrated that they can use a scanning tunneling microscope to position atoms in microscopic patterns at room temperature.
- Archaeology
Ancient origins of fire use
Human ancestors may have learned to control fire 1.7 million years ago in eastern Africa.
- Archaeology
Guard dogs and horse riders
More than 5,000 years ago, the Botai people of central Asia had ritual practices that appeared in many later cultures.
