Uncategorized
- Animals
These beetles walk on water, upside down, underneath the surface
Many insects can skate atop the water’s surface thanks to water tension, but one beetle can apparently tread along the underside of this boundary.
- Science & Society
An ecologist’s new book gets at the root of trees’ social lives
In ‘Finding the Mother Tree,’ Suzanne Simard recounts how she discovered hidden networks in forests.
- Animals
A proposed ‘quantum compass’ for songbirds just got more plausible
Quantum physics could be behind birds’ magnetic sense of direction, new measurements indicate.
- Genetics
Embryos appear to reverse their biological clock early in development
A new study suggests that the biological age of both mouse and human embryos resets during development.
- Anthropology
‘Dragon Man’ skull may help oust Neandertals as our closest ancient relative
A Chinese fossil has been classified as a new Homo species that lived more than 146,000 years ago, but not all scientists are convinced.
- Physics
Dark matter may slow the rotation of the Milky Way’s central bar of stars
A method akin to studying a tree’s rings revealed the history of a slowdown of the rotating bar of stars at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy.
- Anthropology
Israeli fossil finds reveal a new hominid group, Nesher Ramla Homo
Discoveries reveal a new Stone Age population that had close ties to Homo sapiens at least 120,000 years ago, complicating the human family tree.
- Animals
How a gecko named Mr. Frosty could help shed new light on skin cancer
The distinctive coloring and skin tumors of a type of gecko called Lemon Frost have been pegged to a gene implicated in human skin cancer.
- Paleontology
For some dinosaurs, the Arctic may have been a great place to raise a family
Fossils of baby dinosaur remains found in northern Alaska challenge the idea that some dinosaurs spent only summers in the Arctic.
- Health & Medicine
The benefits of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines outweigh the risk of rare heart inflammation
A CDC group says the benefits of the Pfizer and Moderna shots outweigh the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis in adolescents and young adults.
- Health & Medicine
How relocating musicians can reduce COVID-19 risk at concerts
Based on simulations of how air flows across a stage, the Utah Symphony rearranged where its musicians sit and boosted ventilation.
- Animals
Chinese mountain cats swap DNA with domestic cats, but aren’t their ancestors
DNA suggests little-studied Chinese mountain cats have been rendezvousing with pet cats on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau since the 1950s.
