Life
- Animals
News Brief: Bees prefer caffeine-spiked nectar
Bees usually alert friends to sources of especially sweet nectar. But a new study finds caffeine is every bit as appealing to them as the sugar is. And that could compromise the quality of their honey.
- Agriculture
The dirt on soil
More than just dirt, soils teem with microbes essential for growing crops. Soils also help prevent floods and even play a role in climate change.
- Animals
Humans are ‘superpredators’
A new study compares the hunting habits of wild animals and humans. People, it turns out, are unlike any other predator on Earth.
- Brain
Study challenges safety for teens of two depression drugs
Scientists reanalyze data on the safety of common drugs to treat depression and find that they don’t seem to help teens. Worse, the drugs may harm them.
- Animals
Wolves beat dogs at problem-solving test
When treats are at stake, wolves outperformed dogs at opening a closed container. The dog’s relationship with humans may explain why.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Xylem
How do trees ferry water from the soil to branches hundreds of feet in the air? This week’s word is the answer.
- Health & Medicine
News Brief: People shed clouds of tell-tale germs
Even after someone has left a room, a cloud of his or her germs laces the air, new data show. Watch out: That mix can be very individual — and even ID you!
- Animals
Cool Jobs: Finding new uses for nature’s poisons
Scientists study toxins and other natural compounds in search of alternatives to ineffective antibiotics and dangerous pesticides.
- Chemistry
Trio gets chemistry Nobel for figuring out DNA repair
Three researchers have won the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry for working out how cells fix damaged genetic material.
- Health & Medicine
Nobel goes for developing drugs from nature
The 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine went to scientists who used nature as the model for important human drugs to combat malaria and serious infections.
- Animals
Sperm whales’ clicks suggest the animals have culture
Sperm whales appear to learn the sounds they use to socialize. That suggests they have some form of culture.
- Brain
Stuffy classrooms may lower test scores
New research links fresh air in classrooms to test scores. Elementary-school students in stuffy classrooms, it found, may perform worse on standardized tests.
