All Stories by Laurel Hamers
- Life
Rattlesnakes have reduced their repertoire of venoms
The most recent common ancestor of today’s rattlesnakes had a huge set of toxin-producing genes. Modern rattlesnake species have independently ditched some of these genes.
- Planetary Science
Moon rocks may have misled asteroid bombardment dating
Discrepancies in moon rock dating muddy Late Heavy Bombardment debate.
- Life
Scientists watch as bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance
A giant petri dish exposes the evolutionary dynamics behind antibiotic resistance.
- Humans
Brain’s blood appetite grew faster than its size
Over evolutionary time, the energy demands of hominid brains increased faster than their volume, a new study finds.
- Animals
Dog brains divide language tasks much like humans do
Dogs understand what we say separately from how we say it.
- Life
Lyme bacteria swap ‘catch bonds’ to navigate blood vessels
Lyme bacteria use same tricks as white blood cells to navigate blood stream.
- Quantum Physics
Experiment confirms plan for quantum-coded messages
A new way to send secret quantum messages uses shorter keys.
- Life
‘Promiscuous’ enzymes can compensate for disabled genes
Promiscuous enzymes can step in when bacteria lose genes they need to function.
- Plants
Sneaky virus helps plants multiply, creating more hosts
Plant virus makes hosts more attractive to pollinators, ensuring future virus-susceptible plants.
- Plants
Internal clock helps young sunflowers follow the sun
A circadian clock helps sunflowers follow the sun’s daily path across the sky
- Paleontology
Woolly mammoths’ last request: Got water?
Woolly mammoths survived on an Alaskan island thousands of years after mainland mammoths went extinct. But they died out when their lakes dried up, thanks to a warming climate and rising sea levels.
- Life
Distinctions blur between wolf species
Red and eastern wolves might be gray wolf/coyote blends instead of distinct species
