On December 3, 2000, at Cape Shirreff, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, a female Antarctic fur seal experienced a personal tragedy: She gave birth to a dead male pup. For the next day or so, the seal, numbered “12” by scientists watching her group, nuzzled her baby and vocalized to him. Nearby on […]
Ancient Chinese tales and writings about a massive flood of the Yellow River that led to civilization’s rise in East Asia appear to hold water, researchers say. A section of the Yellow River dammed by an earthquake-caused landslide broke open about 3,936 years ago, says a team led by geologist Qinglong Wu of China’s Nanjing […]
Instead of destroying its leafy hosts, one common plant virus takes a more backhanded approach to domination. It makes infected plants more attractive to pollinators, ensuring itself a continued supply of virus-susceptible plant hosts for generations to come. The strategy might be a way for the virus to discourage resistance from building up in the […]
The link between pollinator problems and neonicotinoids, a group of agricultural pesticides commonly associated with declines in honeybees, continues to build with two new studies published this week. Butterflies of Northern California join the ranks of honeybees, bumblebees, moths and other organisms that may be feeling the effects of the infamous insecticides. Butterfly species in […]
Sex matters when it comes to cornea transplants — at least for women. Corneas are low on the list of organs that cause rejection, but it happens more often when women receive corneas from men, researchers report online July 22 in the American Journal of Transplantation. In data from nearly 17,000 transplants, 220 of every […]
A few Tasmanian devils have started a resistance movement against a contagious cancer that has depleted their numbers. Since devil facial tumor disease was first discovered in 1996, it has wiped out about 80 percent of the Tasmanian devil population. In some places, up to 95 percent of devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) have succumbed to facial […]
It’s official: The southern tidewater goby is a thing. And it’s chubbier and nubbier than its northern cousin. Endangered tidewater gobies live in California’s seaside lagoons. Ranging roughly the entire length of the state, the fish used to be considered one species. But a new study confirms that gobies living in Northern and Southern California […]
President Barack Obama’s “Cancer Moonshot” now has a scientific flight plan. It calls for better cooperation among researchers and institutions, aggressive pursuit of immunotherapy and making better use of proven cancer prevention strategies. Called the Blue Ribbon Panel Report, the document was approved September 7 by the National Cancer Advisory Board, part of the National […]
In growing brains, billions of nerve cells must make trillions of precise connections. As they snake through the brain, nerve cell tendrils called axons use the brain’s stiffness to guide them on their challenging journey, a study of frog nerve cells suggests. The results, described online September 19 in Nature Neuroscience, show that along with […]
Jeremy Freeman loves clean, simple lines. To see his bent toward aesthetic minimalism, you need look no further than his spare, calm website that slowly shifts colors. In the past, this fixation with style has occasionally veered toward the extreme. In graduate school at New York University, “he decided that capital letters were ugly,” says […]