Other Sciences News

This artist’s concept depicts a super-Earth. Image credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech.

Salt Levels of Oceans on Earth-Like Exoplanets Could Have Major Effect on Their Climates

Apr 4, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that the circulation in fresh water or salty oceans on terrestrial...

A close-up look at the transparent wood created by Dr. Lars Berglund and co-authors. Image credit: KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Swedish Scientists Develop Optically Transparent ‘Wood’

Mar 31, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, has developed transparent wood that could be used in building materials...

This is a map of Indonesia, the green circle shows the island of Flores. The inset shows facial approximation of LB1, female Homo floresiensis (Susan Hayes / Australian Archaeological Association)

Homo floresiensis May Have Disappeared Earlier than Thought

Mar 30, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a multinational team of scientists, Homo floresiensis — a primitive hominin species discovered in the Late Pleistocene sediments at...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Scientists Produce Map of Neanderthal, Denisovan Ancestry in Present-Day Humans

Mar 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dr. David Reich from Harvard Medical School and his colleagues have produced a world map of Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in 120 diverse populations....

‘Not’ faces. Image credit: Ohio State University.

Scientists Say ‘Not Face’ is Universal Part of Language

Mar 28, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists, led by Ohio State University cognitive researcher Prof. Aleix Martinez, has identified a universal facial expression that is interpreted...

Forensic facial reconstruction of another Australopithecus species - A. afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Fossils of Australopithecus afarensis Found in Kenya

Mar 24, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

Fieldwork at the Pliocene site of Kantis, Kenya, has yielded fossilized teeth and forearm bone attributable to Australopithecus afarensis, a hominid species...

Geckos can stick to walls and ceilings because of Van der Waals forces. Image credit: Skitterphoto.

Physical Chemists Demonstrate Wave-Like Nature of Van der Waals Forces

Mar 21, 2016 by News Staff

According to an international team of physical chemists, led by University of Luxembourg researcher Prof. Alexandre Tkatchenko, intermolecular attractions...

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

Denisovan DNA Found in Modern-Day Melanesians

Mar 18, 2016 by News Staff

Residents of the Pacific islands of Melanesia share fragments of genetic code with two early human species: Denisovans, whose remains were found in Siberia,...

This image shows ‘11:00 a.m.’ in a natural speech recording. Image credit: Simeon Floyd.

Study Uncovers Unusual Method of Communicating Human Concept of Time

Mar 17, 2016 by News Staff

Speakers of the Nheengatú language talk about time of day by pointing at where the Sun would be in the sky at that particular time, according to a study...

Sima de los Huesos hominins lived in what is now Spain about 400,000 years ago. Image credit: © Kennis & Kennis / Madrid Scientific Films.

Sima de los Huesos Hominins Were Actually Early Neanderthals, Say Anthropologists

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The first analysis of nuclear DNA from Sima de los Huesos hominins, conducted by Dr. Matthias Meyer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals Ate Rhinos, Woolly Mammoths, and Plants

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Neanderthals lived mainly on mammoth and rhino meat, as well as some plant food, says a team of researchers led by Prof. Hervé Bocherens from the University...

An artist’s rendition of an early human habitat in Tanzania 1.8 million years ago. Image credit: M. Lopez-Herrera / Enrique Baquedano / Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project.

Researchers Reconstruct African Landscape Where Early Humans Lived 1.8M Years Ago

Mar 10, 2016 by News Staff

Life in what is now Tanzania was difficult and dangerous 1.8 million years ago, according to a team of scientists from the United States, Switzerland and...

Multi-pixel electroluminescent displays fabricated via replica molding; the device measures 5 mm thick, with each of the 64 pixels measuring 4 mm; it can be deformed and stretched in various ways. Image credit: Organic Robotics Lab at Cornell University.

Researchers Develop Highly Stretchable Electroluminescent ‘Skin’

Mar 4, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr. Rob Shepherd from Cornell University, Ithaca, has developed an artificial octopus-like skin that can stretch, sense internal...

Top image: filtered signals recorded in the two brain regions identify the almost perfect synchronization between the two regions during the expression of fear memories. Bottom image: spectral decomposition of the brain signals allows researchers to identify the frequency and power of neuronal rhythmic oscillations during fear behavior. Image credit: Nikolaos Karalis et al.

Neuroscientists: Specific Brain Waves Synchronize Brain Regions During Fear Behavior

Feb 23, 2016 by News Staff

A new study led by Nikolaos Karalis of the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München and Dr. Cyril Herry of the Neurocentre Magendie has shed light on what...

Scientists: Neanderthals Mated with Humans 100,000 Years Ago

Feb 17, 2016 by News Staff

A multinational group of researchers has found strong genetic evidence of an interbreeding event between Neanderthals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens...

An illustration of the ice XVII’s molecular configuration. Image credit: Yingying Huang / Chongqin Zhu.

Ice XVII: Chemists Predict Existence of New Form of Ice

Feb 15, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of scientists, led by Xiao Cheng Zeng from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Jijun Zhao from the Dalian University of Technology,...

A time-lapse image of a previously deformed shape-memory network during recovery to its original shape upon contacting a finger in a room temperature environment. The image was obtained by periodic flash exposure over a time period of about 10 seconds. Image credit: J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester.

Researchers Create Unique Shape-Memory Polymer

Feb 12, 2016 by News Staff

A group of scientists at the University of Rochester has created a polymer material that undergoes a shape change that can be triggered by body temperature. A...

The fossilized skull of Australopithecus sediba specimen MH1 and a finite element model of its cranium depicting strains experienced during a simulated bite on its premolars: ‘warm’ colors indicate regions of high strain, ‘cool’ colors indicate regions of low strain. Image credit: Brett Eloff / Lee Berger / University of the Witwatersrand.

Study: Australopithecus sediba Didn’t Eat Hard Foods

Feb 8, 2016 by News Staff

According to a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, a recently discovered species of early human ancestor called Australopithecus...

The study supports a single and rapid dispersal of all non-Africans populations around 50,000 years ago not only across Asia but also into Europe. Image credit: Annette Guenzel / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Pre-Neolithic DNA Suggests Major Late Glacial Population Turnover in Europe

Feb 5, 2016 by News Staff

DNA evidence lifted from the bones and teeth of hunter-gatherers who lived in Europe from 35,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene) to 7,000 years ago (early...