In ancient Maya civilization, cacao wasn’t just for the elites. Traces of the sacred plant show up in ceramics from all types of neighborhoods and dwellings in and around a…
Author: ID
Mangrove forests expand and contract with a lunar cycle
The glossy leaves and branching roots of mangroves are downright eye-catching, and now a study finds that the moon plays a special role in the vigor of these trees. Long-term…
How ghostly neutrinos could explain the universe’s matter mystery
The answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the universe may come down to one of the smallest, and spookiest, particles. Matter is common in the cosmos. Everything around…
This face mask can sense the presence of an airborne virus
Face masks — the unofficial symbol of the COVID-19 pandemic — are leveling up. A mask outfitted with special electronics can detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and other…
After eons of isolation, these desert fish flub social cues
Getting out into society after a long isolation gets awkward. Ask the Pahrump poolfish, loners in a desert for some 10,000 years. This hold-in-your-hand-size fish (Empetrichthys latos) has a chubby,…
A protogalaxy in the Milky Way may be our galaxy’s original nucleus
The Milky Way left its “poor old heart” in and around the constellation Sagittarius, astronomers report. New data from the Gaia spacecraft reveal the full extent of what seems to…
Drumming woodpeckers use similar brain regions as songbirds
Songbirds get a lot of love for their dulcet tones, but drummers may start to steal some of that spotlight. Woodpeckers, which don’t sing but do drum on trees, have…
Fossil finds put gibbons in Asia as early as 8 million years ago
Small-bodied, long-armed apes called gibbons swing rapidly through the trees, far outpacing scientists’ attempts to decipher these creatures’ evolutionary story. Now, a partial upper jaw and seven isolated teeth found…
Video shows the first fox known to fish for food
The fox froze. Inches from his paws, frenzied, spawning carp writhed in the shallow water along a reservoir’s shore. In a sudden flash of movement, the fox dove nose-first into…
How Kenyans help themselves and the planet by saving mangrove trees
On the fringe of Kenya’s Gazi village, 50 kilometers south of Mombasa, Mwatime Hamadi walks barefoot on a path of scorching-hot sand toward a thicket of trees that seem to…
