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"Long before it's in the papers"
July 22, 2011
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EXCLUSIVES =
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Could simple anger have taught people to cooperate?
A new study challenges one of the leading theories as a solution for an evolutionary puzzle.
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Different cultures’ music matches their speech styles, study finds
Researchers have debated for years what the biological basis of music might be.
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Your parrot isn’t just parroting, study suggests
While many owners will attest that pet parrots have a purpose in their talking, the subject was little studied before recently.
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Music making may help keep mind in tune in old age
Longtime playing of a musical instrument may help keep your mind sharp as others’ start going flat, research suggests.
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Tiny bugs have own personalities despite being clones, scientists say
Tiny green insects known as pea aphids have individual behavior patterns, or “personalities,” a study reports.
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Does a smile mean something to a dog?
Dogs can learn to tell apart smiles from blank expressions in photos of people, a study has found.
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Why do men use silly pickup lines?
A new study assesses the psychology and success rates of various gambits by which men try to get women’s attention.
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"Forests" detectable even in distant solar systems, scientists suggest
Once humans start imaging Earth-like planets in other solar systems, tree-like life forms might also be detectable, a study proposes.
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Bars may kill spiral galaxies
Some lovely cosmic structures may eventually come undone, say researchers aided by citizen volunteers.
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Report of ancient meat-fest by human ancestors disputed
Some researchers are skeptical of a study finding that ancestral humans butchered animals over three million years ago.
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Societies evolve a bit like creatures, study concludes
Increases in political complexity are usually gradual, as is the case with the complexity of living things, researchers propose.
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Get them some sleep, scientists say of young delinquents
Many high-school age delinquents get too little snooze time, research suggests.
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World money meltdown can start in surprising places, physicists say
Researchers used concepts from "statistical physics" to draw up a list of countries that could trigger a global economic crisis.
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From brain science, new questions about free will
Subconscious thoughts are a starting point for much of our decisionmaking, some researchers argue.
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"Power-hungry" image may hurt female, but not male politicians
Voters tend to punish female candidates for seeming brazenly ambitious, but let the same quality slide in males, a study suggests.
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Study seeks to show how acupuncture really works
A traditional Chinese healing technique may work by activating pain-suppressing molecules in the body, researchers say.
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Diversity within species may be as important as among them
Many past studies have focused on diversity of species as a key factor in the health and resilience of a natural environment.
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Scientists explore whether some apes shake heads for "no"
Preventing an action by someone else may be one purpose for which bonobos shake their heads, a study suggests.
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Mostly-male book images may reduce girls' science scores
In a small study, a gender gap in school science scores flipped when students used a text showing only female scientists.
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New anti-cancer strategy: make tumors age
Researchers have identified a chemical chain of events that leads cancer cells to stop reproducing because they get old.
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It seems we're all more human than average
A widespread tendency for people to consider themselves "better" than the norm is well known. Now scientists say another odd human conceit may be coming to light.
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Scientists learning how monkeys fend off "monkey AIDS"
The findings could be useful in the quest to design a vaccine for people, biologists say.
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Scientists: docs don't feel your pain much-and that may be best
If you've ever felt like you've had a doctor who just didn't care, researchers now have an explanation.
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Baby temperament found to predict adult brain structure
Four-month-old infants' temperament predicts some aspects of their brain structure at age 18, researchers say.
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Females may harbor biological "inner male"
In female mice, switching off one gene seems to start turning the ovaries into testicles that produce male hormones, scientists report.
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Second "Mozart effect"? Premature babies may grow faster
Hearing classical music might make premature babies grow faster by reducing their energy expenditure, a study has found.
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Poor, misunderstood testosterone
Contrary to popular conceptions, the hormone may sometimes promote fair play.
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Tattoos, piercings may advertise good health
Body decorations common since ancient times may exist because they signal "biological quality" to potential mates, a study proposes.
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How could they? Poop-eating apes prompt quest for answers
Nature can be beautiful. Elegant. Graceful. But not always.
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It's not an earthquake-it's an aftershock from long ago
Some "earthquakes" that occur in unusual locations may really be aftershocks
of quakes centuries ago, a new report suggests.
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Huge "hidden" Saturn ring found
Astronomers are reporting the discovery of largest-known planetary
ring in the Solar System.
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MORE NEWS =
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Suits of armor take heavy toll on wearers, study finds
If you think working out is tough, imagine doing it in a suit of armor. A new study examines how heavy metal might have affected medieval soldiers’ performance.
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“Confirmed”: all of us but Africans are part Neanderthal
Humans and Neanderthal people interbred, probably in the Middle East, research indicates.
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Galaxy-sized twist in time may explain cosmic conundrum
Spinning galaxies may account for some unexpected differences between matter and “antimatter,” a physicist says.
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Wipeout of top predators called No. 1 human effect on nature
Killing off nature’s “apex consumers” has had a host of unintended and unwanted consequences, biologists say.
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“Personality” variation seen as vital to ants’ success
More and more scientists are taking the idea of animal personality seriously. Research is starting to address its roles in ecology.
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Gossip may scare people into being nice
Gossip can be hurtful, unproductive, and mean. It can also help pressure people into sharing and cooperating, a study suggests.
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Is the universe spinning?
New findings suggest the universe was born spinning, which means it may still be, physicists say.
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Anti-prejudice programs may backfire
Education aimed at eliminating racism may often actually stoke it thanks to an adversarial tone, say some researchers.
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Polar bears may have Irish ancestor thanks to interbreeding
Polar and brown bears don’t meet often, but where they have, there seems to have been “little barrier to their mating,” a scientist says.
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Beauty found to activate same brain area whether it’s visual or auditory
One characteristic all works of art may share is that they stimulate the so-called medial orbitofrontal cortex, scientists say.
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Paris pigeons never forget a face?
Free-roaming birds of the city likely recognize people by their faces and aren’t fooled by changes of clothes, researchers report.
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Metal traces help scientists “color in” fossilized animals
Non-biodegradable materials may keep providing information for hundreds of millions of years, scientists say.
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Super black hole a “headache” for astronomers
A new discovery smashes records and may shed light on never-seen stages of cosmic history, scientists say. It also deepens a conundrum.
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Military conflicts have been increasing since 1870, study finds
Military conflicts between states have been on a steady upward path, without even counting the post-9/11 period, two researchers say.
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Afghan wildlife shows “incredible resilience” amid war
A survey revealed that a wide variety of mammals including black bears, gray wolves and leopard cats survive in parts of Afghanistan.
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Big dinos were about as warm as people, study finds
Ancient teeth provided information that will help unlock secrets of the giant reptiles’ behavior and demise, researchers say.
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Overfishing has profoundly changed the fish already, report says
Fish in our century live fast and die young compared to those of the past, researchers say after analyzing medieval trash.
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Evidence for ocean in Saturn moon now compelling, scientists say
Samples of a spray shooting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus point to a vast, saltwater ocean underground, according to a study.
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Step toward “spin” computing
could save energy
Physicists are working toward computers that would save energy and retain
data even if power suddenly goes out.
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Scientists: black hole kills star, blasts beam at Earth
One of the biggest, brightest explosions on record comes from a huge black hole at the center of a distant galaxy, astronomers say.
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Scientists find bizarre mushroom, name it after “SpongeBob”
A new fungal species is almost cartoonish in its spongy nature, but may play a role in sustaining its forest environment.
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Chemical mix may help regrow limbs in mammals
Move over, newts and salamanders. The mouse may join you as the only animal that can re-grow their own severed limbs.
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3D film captures line between consciousness and lights-out
New data offers scientists what they call an unprecedented peek into the physical
nature of consciousness.
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Monkeys stop on red, too
Color appears to be a persistent force in human evolution, biologists say.
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“Dark matter” may dress for the changing seasons
The elusive substance pervading the universe may show a seasonal rhythm, new research suggests.
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Bird’s mating dance leaves scientists goggle-eyed
The golden-collared manakin’s ritual leaves its heart beating at some of the highest rates in the avian world, biologists say.
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Violent video games move over? Relaxing ones may boost mood, kindness
While violent video games may lead to more aggression and anger, new research suggests the opposite also holds.
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Shame
and honor boost cooperation equally: study
Reputations may be increasingly central in the solutions to 21st-century problems, researchers argue.
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Attention cheaters: bacterial police are coming
At least some bacteria can “police” cheaters in their midst, a study has found, although how they do so is unclear.
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Mammoths weren’t picky, happy to interbreed, scientists say
The woolly mammoth may have often mated with a very different, much larger type of mammoth.
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Electrons boast near-perfect roundness, physicists report
The electrical charge-carrying components of atoms are virtually perfect spheres, physicists have announced.
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Black holes spinning faster and faster, researchers say
The giant black holes in the centers of galaxies are spinning faster than ever before on average, two astronomers have concluded.
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Study: whites believe they are now the victims
Whites believe they’ve replaced blacks as the chief targets of discrimination in the U.S., results of a survey indicate.
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Lost critter reappears, poses for photos after 113 years
After eluding repeated searches, an odd-looking, puffy red rodent has reportedly showed up at conservationists’ front door—literally.
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| World
Science Archive
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New to science? Researchers
claim that the above natural arch, one of the world's biggest, was unknown to
science before late last year. That's when the investigators with the New
York-based Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled across the formation in the
remote northern edge of the Bamyan plateau in the central highlands of Afghanistan.
Dubbed Hazarchishma Natural Bridge, its total span—the measurement by which natural bridges are ranked—is 210.6 feet
(64.2 m) wide, making it the 12th largest such formation
known. The largest, Fairy Bridge, is by the Buliu River in Guangxi, China, and spans 400 feet
(122 m). Several of the top 20 are in Utah in the U.S.
(Image credit: Ayub Alavi)
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"Unanimously hailed as
exceptional"
-Neue Zürcher Zeitung
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