Life
- Brain
Mapping the brain’s highways
A new map may explain why some brain injuries are worse than others. Even relatively minor injuries that disrupt message superhighways may have a more devastating impact than some seemingly catastrophic injuries.
- Animals
‘Crazy’ ant fight
By neutralizing the poison produced by fire ants, ‘crazy’ ants can survive heated battles. And that may help explain why crazy ants are edging out fire ants in parts of the southern United States.
- Brain
Why boys face higher autism risk
Boys develop autism at four times the rate seen in girls. Girls’ genes are better protected from the mutations linked to this brain disorder, data now suggest.
- Fossils
Reviving dinosaurs
With the help of computers, researchers are getting a pretty good idea of how these ancient creatures moved, walked and ate.
- Animals
We are stardust
Everything making up Earth and what’s now living upon it — from trees and people to our pets and their fleas — owes their origins to the elements forged by ancient stars.
- Animals
Flower loss doomed the mammoths
Woolly mammoths roamed the Arctic until about 10,000 years ago. Why they died out may trace to the vanishing of the mostly flowering plants on which they had been dining.
- Animals
Birds versus windows
Buildings in the United States can be deadly obstacles to flying birds. A new study estimates that as many as 1 billion birds die every year after colliding with windows. And low buildings — not skyscrapers — account for most of those deaths.
- Animals
Sharks become science helpers
Jaws may scare beachgoers. But sharks bring a smile to some environmental scientists, who are using the toothy fishes to collect data on the ocean.
- Brain
Video games can help some people read
People with dyslexia seem to get a boost from screen time.
- Animals
Tag, you’re it!
Biologists now deploy a wide range of technologies to track animals. The data these experts collect reveal insights into the behavior of animals that spend much of their lives out of human eyeshot.
- Animals
Explainer: Tagging through history
What started as little metal bands have evolved into high-tech devices — some of which rely on satellites to share their findings.
- Animals
Watch out for tree-climbing crocs
What’s that up in the tree? If you live in the right part of the world, it could be a hungry croc.
