1,562 results
- Life
2009 Science News of the Year: Life
Breeding records for sheep on Hirta offer an unusual opportunity to study inheritance. Image Credit: Arpat Ozgul Gentler winters shrink sheepWarming has trumped the benefits of fat to shrink sheep on the remote North Atlantic island of Hirta, a new analytical approach has revealed (SN: 8/1/09, p. 12). Weights for wild female Soay sheep dropped […]
- Animals
Ants do real estate the simple way
Tracking ants with anti-shoplifter RFID tags has inspired a new, simplified view of how a colony finds a home
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2010 Science News of the Year: Genes & Cells
Credit: © Joe McNally/reconstruction by Kennis and Kennis Gene sequencing for all, even Neandertals An unprecedented picture of life’s diversity is emerging as researchers publish the full genetic instruction books of a growing list of species — including one that has been extinct for more than 30,000 years. A project sequencing Neandertal DNA harvested from […]
- Earth
Green-ish pesticides bee-devil honey makers
Pesticides are agents designed to rid targeted portions of the human environment of undesirable critters – such as boll weevils, roaches or carpenter ants. They’re not supposed to harm beneficials. Like bees. Yet a new study from China finds that two widely used pyrethroid pesticides – chemicals that are rather “green” as bug killers go – can significantly impair the pollinators’ reproduction.
- Life
Caterpillar noise tricks ants into service
Sneaky interlopers mimic the “voice” of an ant queen to get royal treatment from the colony. (Audio included.)
- Health & Medicine
Downside of red-hot chili peppers
In the wild, a culinary kick comes with risks to the plant.
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- Ecosystems
Slave ants rebel
Species vulnerable to enslavement may evolve ways to fight their captors.
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- Climate
Tiny Tuvalu could quash climate deal
Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia brags that his tiny 9-island state of Tuvalu is the world’s smallest independent country. Its 10,000 inhabitants live an average of 2 meters above sea level, which makes their homeland highly vulnerable to disappearing with even modest sea-level rise. With the nation’s survival so dependent on climate protection, he vowed today that Tuvalu will not sign onto any climate-change accord that does not require “legally-binding” language and programs aimed at ensuring global temperatures peak at “well below” 1.5 oC. That could effectively torpedo hopes for a climate accord tomorrow when the United Nations climate change meeting is slated to wrap up.
- Science & Society
Students win big at Intel ISEF 2010
Global high school science competition concludes with top prizes going to projects on cancer-fighting quantum dots, quantum computer algorithms and computer programming.
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DNA on the move
The latest advances from the field of DNA nanotechnology include nanobot ‘spiders’ learning how to walk and even do some work.
