Other Sciences News

This colorized scanning electron micrograph shows Mycobacterium tuberculosis, gram-positive bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Image credit: Ray Butler / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Scientists Describe 7,000-Year-Old Case of Tuberculosis in Europe

Oct 31, 2013 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Hungary and the United Kingdom says tuberculosis was present in Europe as early as 7,000 years ago. This colorized scanning...

A dried flowered bud of the Cannabis sativa plant (CC BY 2.5).

Dutch Study: Regular Consumption of Cannabis May Trigger Impulsive Behavior

Oct 29, 2013 by News Staff

A new study conducted in the Netherlands has shown that heavy cannabis users, who had a history of cocaine use, have increased levels of impulsive behavior. A...

Central Baffin Island. Image credit: Gifford Miller / University of Colorado Boulder.

Arctic: Past Century May Be Warmest in Last 120,000 Years

Oct 24, 2013 by News Staff

Radiocarbon dating of ancient moss clumps on Baffin Island in the Eastern Canadian Arctic suggests that local summer temperatures during the past 100 years...

Men walk at a slower pace to match the females' paces only when the female is their romantic partner. Image credit: Virginia Commonwealth University.

Males Walk Slower when Walking with Female Romantic Partner

Oct 24, 2013 by News Staff

Men tend to slow down by about 7 percent when walking with romantic partners, says a team of scientists from Seattle Pacific University, the United States. Men...

This image shows a Neanderthal and a human kid. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

New Study Finds No Last Common Ancestor of Modern Humans and Neanderthals

Oct 22, 2013 by News Staff

A dental study of 1,200 molars and premolars from 13 hominin species shows that no known species matches the expected profile of the last common ancestor...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neandertals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Mauro Cutrona.

Denisovans: Mysterious Homo Species Interbred with Modern Humans in Australasia

Oct 20, 2013 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal Science, Denisovans – relatives to both Neanderthals and humans – somehow managed to cross Wallace’s...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals May Have Eaten Stomach Contents of Their Prey

Oct 18, 2013 by News Staff

Bitter root plant material found on teeth of Neanderthals suggests their complex diet may have included the stomach contents of hunted animals. Reconstruction...

This is an artist's reconstruction of female Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes, via tabula.ge.

Dmanisi Human: Skull from Georgia Implies All Early Homo Species were One

Oct 18, 2013 by News Staff

An analysis of a complete 1.8-million-year-old hominid skull found at the archaeological site of Dmanisi in Georgia suggests the earliest Homo species...

Handprints at the El Castillo cave, Spain. Image credit: University of Cantabria.

Paleolithic Cave Painters in Europe were Mostly Women, Researcher Says

Oct 16, 2013 by News Staff

Anthropologist Prof Dean Snow from Pennsylvania State University analyzing ochre-stenciled handprints in Paleolithic caves in France and Spain has determined...

Escrava Isaura, a 2004 Brazilian telenovela. Image credit: Sérgio Savarese / CC BY 2.0.

New Study Shows What Makes Latin American Telenovelas so Popular

Oct 15, 2013 by News Staff

According to a new study led by Dr Tom van Laer from ESCP Europe Business School, a particular type of consumer enjoys stories with plots, characters,...

Researchers mapped brain activity when volunteers read poetry and prose. The results show that poetry is like music to the human mind. Image credit: Jens Langner.

fMRI Study Reveals Differences in Brain Response to Poetry and Prose

Oct 11, 2013 by News Staff

Researchers from the University of Exeter, UK, have used the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to map the different ways in which...

Nanorods or nanoropes of carbine would be stronger than graphene or even diamond if they can be manufactured. Image credit: Vasilii Artyukhov / Rice University.

Carbyne: Material could be Stronger than Graphene, Diamond

Oct 10, 2013 by News Staff

According to scientists at Rice University, a material called carbyne will be the strongest material if and when anyone can make it in bulk. Nanorods or...

Haleakala Crater in East Maui Hawaii. Image credit: University of Wisconsin.

Hawaiian Islands Formed by Extrusive Volcanism, Scientists Find

Oct 8, 2013 by News Staff

New research, reported in the Geophysical Research Letters, changes our understanding of how the Hawaiian Islands formed. Haleakala Crater in East Maui...

High-level water vapor influences weather and climate, according to a new study. Image credit: NASA.

Water Vapor in Stratosphere Influences Climate on Earth, Study Says

Oct 7, 2013 by News Staff

According to new research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, water vapor changes in the stratosphere contribute to warmer...

Subglacial topography and predicted flow routes for catchments of the Institute Ice Stream and the Möller Ice Stream. Image credit: Anne M. Le Brocq et al.

Antarctica: Researchers Find Huge Channels beneath Ice Shelf

Oct 7, 2013 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, British researchers have reported the discovery of giant ice channels beneath the floating Filchner-Ronne...

Waiting Room - Employment Office by Theresa Bernstein, 1917, oil on canvas. Image credit: The Jewish Museum, New York.

Waiting Makes Us More Patient, New Study Suggests

Oct 2, 2013 by News Staff

Waiting actually does make people more patient, which can provide a payoff for consumers by helping them make better decisions, according to Dr Ayelet...

Acute brain slice: thin brain slices allow the selective study of a neural circuit in isolation not possible in intact organism; here one can also selectively manipulate the conditions and observe their specific effect. Image credit: Bhuminder Singh.

Future of Neurophysiology: to Slice or not to Slice?

Oct 1, 2013 by Bhuminder Singh

We would like to think that scientific efforts are free of trends and human whims and proceed in a straight line for the good of humanity; but this is...

Periodic table of the elements (University of California, Irvine).

IUPAC Revises Standard Atomic Weights for Gold, Fluorine, Arsenic and other 16 Elements

Sep 26, 2013 by News Staff

Nineteen elements – including gold, arsenic, fluorine, cadmium, molybdenum and thorium – have been assigned new atomic weights, according to...

The world's largest recorded deep earthquake occurred on May 24, 2013, at a depth of 609 km in the subducting Pacific plate beneath the Sea of Okhotsk near Kamchatka, Russia, as shown on this map. Image credit: Ye et al / Science.

Largest Deep Earthquake Surprises Seismologists

Sep 20, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a new study published in the journal Science, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake that struck 609 km beneath the Sea of Okhotsk near Kamchatka, Russia,...