8,095 results
- Animals
No-Dad Dragons: Komodos reproduce without males
Two female Komodo dragons in zoos have startled their keepers by laying viable eggs without males, possibly as a last resort at a time when mates are in increasingly short supply.
- Humans
Preserving Paradise
President Bush has created the world's largest marine reserve, a no-fishing, no-disturbance zone, surrounding the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
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Is a Galápagos finch caught in a split?
An inland population of one of the famed Galápagos finches may become a new textbook example of the way in which two species emerge from one while still living together.
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Stem Cells from Virgin Eggs
Making embryonic stem cells from unfertilized eggs might bypass many ethical concerns, but important scientific hurdles remain.
- Earth
No-stick chemicals can mimic estrogen
Some of the perfluorinated compounds used to impart nonstick properties to fabrics and cookware can not only activate a receptor for sex hormones but also inappropriately feminize fish.
- Humans
Letters from the November 11, 2006, issue of Science News
The Carolinas to New Jersey “Bad-News Beauties: Poison-spined fish from Asia have invaded U.S. waters” (SN: 9/9/06, p. 168) cites evidence of a severe genetic bottleneck, suggesting that perhaps no more than three pregnant females launched the expanding western Atlantic red lionfish population. How can there be “pregnant females” in an animal with the external […]
- Humans
The Wealth of Nations
Analysis of the connections among different types of economic activities explains why some countries succeed, and others fail, in diversifying their economies.
- Ecosystems
Warming Sign? Larger dead zones form off Oregon coast
Unprecedented recent changes in the yearly pattern of ocean currents off North America's West Coast have wreaked havoc on aquatic ecosystems there, another possible symptom of Earth's warming climate.
- Earth
Wildfire, Walleyes, and Wine
An international panel's latest report on the impacts of climate change highlights an overlooked need: preparing for droughts, floods, heat waves, and other disasters.
- Humans
Letters from the February 3, 2007, issue of Science News
All together now It is not only the scientific literature that documents the unexpected “doughnut” pattern in swarms (“The Mind of the Swarm,” SN: 11/25/06, p. 347). Italo Calvino’s fictional Mr. Palomar observed (rather more lyrically) about the flocking of Roman starlings, “Finally a form emerges from the confused flutter of wings, advances, condenses: it […]
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19719
To argue that the concentrations reported in this study are environmentally relevant is misleading. Those concentrations are usually in groundwater, not surface waters. I’ve been involved in the environmental field for almost 20 years and have yet to hear of any fish being caught in groundwater. John HarrisSacramento, Calif. Study coauthor Frank von Hippel notes […]
- Paleontology
Amphibious Ancestors
Newly discovered fossils from Greenland, as well as a reexamination of those of previously known creatures, are providing researchers with additional insights into ancient vertebrates' move from water to land.
