Life
- Climate
Under Antarctic ice, microbes gobble up greenhouse gas
In a lake far beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, scientists have found bacteria that eat methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
- Animals
Whales feast when hatcheries release salmon
Humpback whales are visiting sites where hatcheries release juvenile salmon in Alaska. It’s a dining bonanza for the huge whales.
- Fossils
T. rex may not have been able to run — but it was still pretty fast
T. rex was fearsome, but its leg bones may not have been strong enough to stand the stresses of running.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Dire wolf
Dire wolves are an extinct species of wolf that roamed North America from about 300,000 to 12,000 years ago.
- Brain
Brain’s immune system can play role in weight gain
Weight isn’t just calories in, calories out. When mice eat a fatty diet, immune cells in their brains become inflamed. That makes the animals gain more weight.
- Animals
These sharks get help swallowing from their shoulders
Some sharks suck in food by snapping open their jaws. But to gulp it all the way down, they’ve got to give their shoulders a workout.
- Animals
What do animals do during a solar eclipse?
A citizen-science experiment used the Great American Eclipse of 2017 to gather the largest dataset ever of animal responses to a sun-block.
- Brain
Many U.S. football players had brain disease, data show
The brains of more than 200 former football players were donated to science upon their deaths. Signs of severe brain trauma showed up in the vast majority.
- Brain
Mild brain injury can cause bead-like swellings in brain cells
Mild head bumps cause temporary swellings — like beads in a necklace — within brain cells. If cells get enough time to heal, those “beads” will disappear.
- Animals
Giant Antarctic sea spiders breathe really strangely
Sea spiders have many bizarre body systems. Scientists have now discovered that they breathe and circulate oxygen in a way never seen before.
- Life
Scientists Say: Histology
When scientists study the parts of an animal or plant, they are studying anatomy. When they need a microscope to see the details of that anatomy, they are studying histology.
- Ecosystems
Cool Jobs: Science deep beneath the waves
These scientists probe the sea’s depths, its strange inhabitants, the movement of water and how life evolves in extremes.
