Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez saw the future of energy on a broiling-hot day last September. An email alert hit her inbox from the San Diego Gas & Electric Company. “Extreme heat straining the…
Author: ID
Birds that dive may be at greater risk of extinction
Birds that dive underwater — such as penguins, loons and grebes — may be more likely to go extinct than their nondiving kin, a new study finds. Many water birds…
Fossils suggest early primates lived in a once-swampy Arctic
The Arctic today is a hostile place for most primates. But a series of fossils found since the 1970s suggest that wasn’t always the case. Dozens of fossilized teeth and…
These shape-shifting devices melt and re-form thanks to magnetic fields
Shape-shifting liquid metal robots might not be limited to science fiction anymore. Miniature machines can switch from solid to liquid and back again to squeeze into tight spaces and perform…
Procrastination may harm your health. Here’s what you can do
The worst procrastinators probably won’t be able to read this story. It’ll remind them of what they’re trying to avoid, psychologist Piers Steel says. Maybe they’re dragging their feet going…
Lots of Tatooine-like planets around binary stars may be habitable
SEATTLE — Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars is the stuff of science fiction. But Tatooine-like planets in orbit around pairs of stars might be our best bet in…
Lots of Tatooine-like planets around binary stars may be habitable
SEATTLE — Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars is the stuff of science fiction. But Tatooine-like planets in orbit around pairs of stars might be our best bet in…
A bird with a T. rex head may help reveal how dinosaurs became birds
A 120-million-year-old fossil bird found in China could offer some new clues about how landbound dinosaurs evolved into today’s flying birds. The dove-sized Cratonavis zhui sported a dinosaur-like head atop…
Some young sea spiders can regrow their rear ends
No backside, no problem for some young sea spiders. The creatures can regenerate nearly complete parts of their bottom halves — including muscles, reproductive organs and the anus — or…
A rare rabbit plays an important ecological role by spreading seeds
A crucial link in the life cycle of one parasitic plant may be found in a surprising place — the bellies of the descendants of an ancient line of rabbits.…
