Monkeypox is not yet a global public health emergency, the World Health Organization said June 25. The decision comes as the outbreak of the disease related to smallpox continues to…
Author: ID
5 misunderstandings of pregnancy biology that cloud the abortion debate
On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. By undoing the landmark 1973 decision that protected a person’s right to an abortion, the highest court in the…
50 years ago, eels’ navigation skills electrified scientists
Does the eel use electric fields to navigate? — Science News, June 24, 1972 Many species of ocean fish [such as American eels] migrate over large distances. Some of them…
Earth’s oldest known wildfires raged 430 million years ago
Bits of charcoal entombed in ancient rocks unearthed in Wales and Poland push back the earliest evidence for wildfires to around 430 million years ago. Besides breaking the previous record…
Earth’s oldest known wildfires raged 430 million years ago
Bits of charcoal entombed in ancient rocks unearthed in Wales and Poland push back the earliest evidence for wildfires to around 430 million years ago. Besides breaking the previous record…
This giant bacterium is the largest one found yet
There’s a new record holder for biggest bacterium — and you don’t need a microscope to see it. The newfound species, Thiomargarita magnifica, is roughly a centimeter long, and its…
Vampire squid are gentle blobs. But this ancestor was a fierce hunter
Despite the scary name, modern vampire squid are docile denizens of the deep sea — but their Jurassic ancestors may have been a lot fiercer. Analyses of fossilized soft tissue…
Cats chewing on catnip boosts the plant’s insect-repelling powers
For many cats, a mere whiff of catnip can send them into a licking, rolling, plant-shredding frenzy. That destruction amplifies catnip’s natural defenses against insects and its appeal to cats,…
An otherwise quiet galaxy in the early universe is spewing star stuff
PASADENA, Calif. — A lucky celestial alignment has given astronomers a rare look at a galaxy in the early universe that is seeding its surroundings with the elements needed to…
Gravitational wave ‘radar’ could help map the invisible universe
It sounds like the setup for a joke: If radio waves give you radar and sound gives you sonar, what do gravitational waves get you? The answer might be “GRADAR”…
