All Stories
- Brain
Learning words in the womb
Fetuses are listening. And they’ll remember what they heard. Studies had shown they can hear songs and learn sounds while in the womb. Now scientists show that fetuses can learn specific words, too. And for at least a few days after they’re born, babies can still recall commonly repeated words.
- Animals
Alien carp leap onto the scene
Last summer, Alison Coulter got a big surprise as she piloted a boat along the Wabash River in Indiana. Startled by her boat’s motor, a 60-centimeter (24-inch) carp leaped out of the river. In some cases, jumping Asian carp have broken a boater’s nose, jaw or arm.
- Brain
Video games: When granddad wins
With some practice, people over 60 bested untrained 20-year-olds.
- Health & Medicine
Meet the new meat
Scientists made a hamburger without harming animals; but it cost as much as a house.
-
Building blocks of the future
Any child who has played with blocks knows why they're so useful. Kids can build almost anything from them — a plane, a castle, even a racecar. And if part of a creation comes apart or breaks, the builder doesn't have to start from scratch. She can just replace the missing blocks. And what's true for kids’ play is also true for adult projects. Here’s one new example, and it doesn’t even look like a “block.”
- Animals
Mud worth more than gold
Reed Scherer and Ross Powell have studied mud from all over the world. It is different in each place. Mud from the Sulu Sea near Borneo is as smooth as cream cheese. Mud from Chesapeake Bay, in the mid-Atlantic United States, clings to your skin like peanut butter.
- Earth
Explainer: Ice sheets and glaciers
Ice sheets and glaciers give scientists clues about climate change.
- Earth
Explainer: Antarctica, land of lakes
There are many, although they tend to be buried under rivers of ice.
- Brain
Putting the brakes on overeating
Restoring a chemical in the gut sends a message to mouse brains to stop overeating.
- Environment
Unconventional spill
An accidental spill of extra-heavy crude oil points to some unusual challenges in safely getting this petroleum to market.
- Environment
Explainer: All crude oil is not alike
Crude oil comes in conventional and unconventional types.
-
