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Showing stories 26-50 out of 485 stories.
<< < 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 > >>
This shrimp has a hammer
The hammer-like claws of the peacock mantis shrimp can smash through mollusk shells, the heads of small fish, even a glass aquarium wall. The claws themselves stay surprisingly strong, even after being damaged while delivering so many blows.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
 |
Opium poppies pave the way for a cancer-killing compound
The opium poppy plant, Papaver somniferum, is the source of certain illegal narcotics, like morphine and heroin. But, the plant also produces a non-addictive compound called noscapine that acts as both a cough suppressant and tumor-killing agent in humans.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Climate change works for the brown argus butterfly
A pretty brown butterfly with orange spots on its wings, called the brown argus butterfly, is thriving in the United Kingdom for an interesting reason. Summers have become warmer in the last twenty years, and this change opens up new possibilities for where the butterfly can lay its eggs.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Fragments of rocks that hit the moon
While looking at rocks collected on the moon during the Apollo mission, scientists have found tiny fragments of meteorites that hit the moon long ago.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Earliest known Mayan astronomical calendar
A painted room in a Mayan temple in Guatemala shows numerical records of lunar and possibly planetary cycles, scientists report in a new study. The hieroglyphs are from the 9th century, making this calendar older than the records in the Mayan Codices, which were books written on bark paper a few centuries before Columbus landed.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
A different kind of cave treasure
What do you think the scientists who explored the amazing caves in these pictures were looking for? Bats? Skeletons? Pirate treasure? Actually, it was the stalagmites that they were after, because these spiky formations contain important chemical clues to ancient climate.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Did fire or ice shape the valleys of Mars?
A particular region of Mars, known as the Athabasca Valles, can be identified by polygon-shaped patterns on the ground. This part of the planet is a network of valleys located near the equator of Mars, and for years astronomers have puzzled over what kind of processes shaped it.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Polar bears older than previously thought
Polar bears diverged from their closest relatives about 600,000 years ago, according to a new genetic study published in the April 20 issue of the journal Science.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Baboons can learn to spot printed words
Baboons can't read, but they can learn to tell the difference between real printed words (like KITE) and nonsense words (like ZEVS), scientists say.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Bone markings: Something for scientists to chew on
Many fossil animal bones have been dinged up by natural processes, chewed by carnivorous animals or cut by human tools. But, when researchers dig up these bones millions of years later, it can be really difficult to tell these different types of marks apart.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
With pesticides, bees can't find their way home
Scientists have discovered some of the ways that a widely used insecticide harms bumblebees and honeybees. Bumblebees and honeybees are important pollinators of flowering plants, including many major fruit and vegetable crops. Each year, honeybee hives are trucked in on farms to help pollinate almond, apple and blueberry crops, among others.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
The extinction of Australia's giant animals
Human hunters were primarily responsible for the disappearance of Australia's giant vertebrates about 40,000 years ago. And, this extinction in turn caused major ecological changes. These are the conclusions of a new study in the March 23, 2012, issue of the journal Science.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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Timing is key to fern's spore-throwing catapult
If you've ever been hiking, chances are you've seen fern plants in the woods. Nestled under fern leaves are tiny capsules chock-full of spores, tiny life vessels which, like seeds, are used for dispersal. Fern plants launch their spores with tiny catapults. Once in the air, wind and air currents can take the spores around the world.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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What can honeybees tell us about human behavior?
A new study of honeybees might help researchers understand why some people break free of their normal routines and seek out new experiences. Zhengzheng Liang and colleagues took a close look at the genes that are expressed in the brains of honeybees when the bees are out searching for new food sources.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Unlike chimps, young kids share knowledge
Young children trying to solve a puzzle collaborated and shared information, while chimps and capuchin monkeys working on the same puzzle did not, according to a new study. These findings help explain why human culture gets more complex over generations, while that of other animals seems to stay roughly the same. Other animals are capable of learning from each other, so researchers would like to know what special human abilities allow us to have "cumulative culture."
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Small horses liked it hot
The earliest horses were closer in size to a housecat than to the modern-day animals we're familiar with. Even at this small scale, the body size of these ancient horses evolved over time. New research shows that environmental temperatures drove these changes.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Good vibrations and the science of touch
Did you know that your fingertips and palms are especially good at feeling vibrations? You can check this out by putting your hands on an object that's giving a gentle hum, like a washing machine. Then try your forearm, and compare what you feel.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Shedding more light on major quakes
Using a technique known as Light Detection and Ranging, or LIDAR, before and after large earthquakes might help researchers pinpoint the places where those quakes break the ground wide open, according to a new study.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Off Western Australia, temperature rules the reefs
Australia's Great Barrier Reef has been in decline for years. Its crumbling conditions have caused many researchers to predict that higher levels of carbon dioxide in the world's oceans would only harm the coral further. But, new research is suggesting that a more acidic ocean -- due to increased carbon dioxide levels -- would not actually affect coral reefs as much as the sea's temperature.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Before they pounce, jumping spiders see green
Jumping spiders have an unusual depth-perception system in their eyes, which helps them pounce on their prey, a Japanese research team has discovered.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Bird attraction based on illusion
Bowerbirds, which live in Australia and New Guinea, have an elaborate mating ritual in which the males build large structures or "bowers" that females stop by to inspect. In a new study, scientists report that certain male bowerbirds attract mates by decorating their bowers in a way that creates an optical illusion.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
A wind-riding bird gets a boost
The wandering albatross spends most of its life in flight, touching down on land to find food or to breed. These enormous seabirds, which have the largest wingspan of any living bird, conserve energy while aloft by riding the wind currents.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Origins of huge-headed 'supersoldier' ants
Most ant species in the Pheidole genus have two social groups, or castes: workers and solders. Some also produce "supersoldiers." These large ants block their nest entrance with their extra-large heads and fight with invading ants during army ant raids. Although there are 1,100 different species of Pheidole ants worldwide, just a few of them produce supersoldiers.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
One-third for the birds!
As the numbers of big fish like tuna decline, humans are increasingly catching anchovies, sardines and other small "forage fish" instead. But if humans take too many, they could be cutting off the food supply for the animals that prey on forage fish.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Naked mole-rats feel no pain from acid
The African naked mole-rat is, to our eyes, a pretty ugly creature. These small animals have no hair, wrinkly skin, and two long, yellow front teeth. They live in huge colonies inside deep underground tunnels, where there is little fresh air.
Contact: Science Press Package
scipak@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
|
Showing stories 26-50 out of 485 stories.
<< < 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 > >>
Funding provided by the William T. Golden Endowment Fund for Program Innovation at AAAS.