Uncategorized
- Environment
How one fern hoards toxic arsenic in its fronds and doesn’t die
To survive high levels of arsenic, a fern sequesters the heavy metal in its shoots with the help of three proteins.
- Neuroscience
A new experiment didn’t find signs of dreaming in brain waves
Brain activity that powers dreams may reveal crucial insight into consciousness, but a new study failed to spot evidence of the neural flickers.
- Anthropology
Hominids may have been cutting-edge tool makers 2.6 million years ago
Contested finds point to a sharp shift in toolmaking by early members of the Homo genus.
- Life
Gut bacteria may change the way many drugs work in the body
A new survey of interactions between microbes and medications suggests that gut bacteria play a crucial role in how the body processes drugs.
- Physics
This tabletop device turns the quantum definition of a kilogram into a real mass
The mini Kibble balance will measure 10 grams to an accuracy of a few ten-thousandths of a percent.
- Climate
The Southern Ocean may be less of a carbon sink than we thought
The Southern Ocean’s ability to suck up much of the carbon that humans pump into the atmosphere is in question.
- Climate
Thousands of birds perished in the Bering Sea. Arctic warming may be to blame
A mass die-off of puffins and other seabirds in the Bering Sea is probably linked to climate change, scientists say.
- Archaeology
Cave debris may be the oldest known example of people eating starch
Charred material found in South Africa puts energy-rich roots and tubers on Stone Age menus, long before farming began.
- Paleontology
Fossils reveal saber-toothed cats may have pierced rivals’ skulls
Two Smilodon fossil skulls from Argentina have puncture holes likely left by the teeth of rival cats.
- Astronomy
Watch the oldest surviving film of a total solar eclipse
A short film of the 1900 total solar eclipse was restored by conservation experts and is now available to view online.
- Anthropology
Africa’s first herders spread pastoralism by mating with foragers
DNA unveils long-ago hookups between early pastoralists and native hunter-gatherers in Africa.
- Health & Medicine
A fungus weaponized with a spider toxin can kill malaria mosquitoes
In controlled field experiments in Burkina Faso, a genetically engineered fungus reduced numbers of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes that can carry malaria.
