Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowCelebrities wield serious power in the realm of public health, with mixed results. Disclosures of personal medical decisions can raise awareness and research dollars for crippling diseases (see Michael J. Fox and Parkinson’s), or they can spread misleading, harmful misinformation (see Jenny McCarthy and vaccines).Actress and director Angelina Jolie generally gets high marks for her recent New York Times op-ed discussing her decision to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes in light of her family’s cancer history. But that doesn’t mean the...…Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowCelebrities wield serious power in the realm of public health, with mixed results. Disclosures of personal medical decisions can raise awareness and research dollars for crippling diseases (see Michael J. Fox and Parkinson’s), or they can spread misleading, harmful misinformation (see Jenny McCarthy and vaccines).Actress and director Angelina Jolie generally gets high marks for her recent New York Times op-ed discussing her decision to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes in light of her family’s cancer history. But that doesn’t mean the...WW…

Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowHuman footprints in White Sands National Park in New Mexico sparked controversy two years ago when scientists found the prints to be surprisingly old, dating to about 22,000 years ago. Now, two other ways of dating the fossilized tracks converge at similar ages as the first estimate, potentially resolving the dispute, researchers report in the Oct. 6 Science.The finding adds to mounting evidence that humans arrived in North America thousands of years earlier than previously thought (SN: 7/11/18).“The answer to how old the footprints really are is...…Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowHuman footprints in White Sands National Park in New Mexico sparked controversy two years ago when scientists found the prints to be surprisingly old, dating to about 22,000 years ago. Now, two other ways of dating the fossilized tracks converge at similar ages as the first estimate, potentially resolving the dispute, researchers report in the Oct. 6 Science.The finding adds to mounting evidence that humans arrived in North America thousands of years earlier than previously thought (SN: 7/11/18).“The answer to how old the footprints really are is...WW…

Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowNative to the Brazilian Amazon, pied tamarins have always used vocal calls to communicate. But noise pollution from car traffic and other human activity are forcing some tamarins to complement those voice calls with smell markings to alert others to dangers, researchers report September 20 in Ethology Ecology & Evolution.Most pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor) live in Manaus, Brazil, inhabiting fragmented patches of forest scattered around urban environments. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, this small, black and...…Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowNative to the Brazilian Amazon, pied tamarins have always used vocal calls to communicate. But noise pollution from car traffic and other human activity are forcing some tamarins to complement those voice calls with smell markings to alert others to dangers, researchers report September 20 in Ethology Ecology & Evolution.Most pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor) live in Manaus, Brazil, inhabiting fragmented patches of forest scattered around urban environments. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, this small, black and...WW…

Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowNearly 20 years ago, the first global assessment of amphibians found the animals facing widespread declines. Now, a second, updated report shows that many amphibians are still in trouble, but with some silver linings, researchers report October 4 in Nature.“We are realistic and hopeful at the same time,” says Jennifer Luedtke, a conservationist at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which tracks extinction risk trends for species around the world.In particular, the wealth of data in the new report, which includes about 8,000 amphibian...…Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowNearly 20 years ago, the first global assessment of amphibians found the animals facing widespread declines. Now, a second, updated report shows that many amphibians are still in trouble, but with some silver linings, researchers report October 4 in Nature.“We are realistic and hopeful at the same time,” says Jennifer Luedtke, a conservationist at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which tracks extinction risk trends for species around the world.In particular, the wealth of data in the new report, which includes about 8,000 amphibian...WW…

Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowHippos are horrible at chewing, and their giant tusks and front teeth are to blame.These intimidating dental features are used by hippos, in part, to protect themselves and their territory. But some of the gnarly teeth interlock or hinder jaw movements, preventing hippos from efficiently chewing with the side-to-side grinding technique that other herbivores use, researchers report October 4 in PLOS ONE. Plant-eating mammals typically use the broad teeth near the sides of their mouths to grind and shred fibrous vegetation before swallowing it. Since...…Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowHippos are horrible at chewing, and their giant tusks and front teeth are to blame.These intimidating dental features are used by hippos, in part, to protect themselves and their territory. But some of the gnarly teeth interlock or hinder jaw movements, preventing hippos from efficiently chewing with the side-to-side grinding technique that other herbivores use, researchers report October 4 in PLOS ONE. Plant-eating mammals typically use the broad teeth near the sides of their mouths to grind and shred fibrous vegetation before swallowing it. Since...WW…

Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowClimateMichael Mann’s latest book, Our Fragile Moment, looks through Earth’s history to understand the current climate crisis.ByOceansA new book follows the race to map the seafloor, documenting how it’s done, why and what a clear view of the deep sea could mean for Earth’s future.ByEcosystemsBen Goldfarb talks about his new book, which looks at the science that’s helping to prevent animals from becoming roadkill.ByHealth & Medicine‘The Last of Us’ is fiction, but the health dangers posed by fungi are real, a new book explains.ByEarthIn his new book,...…Skip to contentSubscribe / Renew nowClimateMichael Mann’s latest book, Our Fragile Moment, looks through Earth’s history to understand the current climate crisis.ByOceansA new book follows the race to map the seafloor, documenting how it’s done, why and what a clear view of the deep sea could mean for Earth’s future.ByEcosystemsBen Goldfarb talks about his new book, which looks at the science that’s helping to prevent animals from becoming roadkill.ByHealth & Medicine‘The Last of Us’ is fiction, but the health dangers posed by fungi are real, a new book explains.ByEarthIn his new book,...WW…

In spite of their dark reputations, two black holes may have set off a cosmic light show.Subtle gravitational rumbles from a collision of two black holes may have been accompanied by a flare of light about a month later, physicists report June 25 in Physical Review Letters. It’s a surprising conclusion given black holes’ propensity to swallow up light and matter. “The normal expectation has been they just merge and all you would detect is gravitational waves,” says astrophysicist Matthew Graham of Caltech.But scientists, not ones to rest on assumptions, wanted to check if that expectation...…In spite of their dark reputations, two black holes may have set off a cosmic light show.Subtle gravitational rumbles from a collision of two black holes may have been accompanied by a flare of light about a month later, physicists report June 25 in Physical Review Letters. It’s a surprising conclusion given black holes’ propensity to swallow up light and matter. “The normal expectation has been they just merge and all you would detect is gravitational waves,” says astrophysicist Matthew Graham of Caltech.But scientists, not ones to rest on assumptions, wanted to check if that expectation...WW…

Australia’smost recent wildfire season was so severe that smoke from the fires reached newheights in the atmosphere — and showed some very weird behavior while it was upthere.Aparticularly intense series of bushfires in southeastern Australia fromDecember 29 to January 4 spurred the formation of huge (SN: 10/22/10). Thosefire-fueled thunderstorms launched between 300,000 and 900,000 metric tons ofsmoke into the stratosphere, which was more than any seen from a previous inferno.One especially large, long-lasting smoke plume .Those winds have never been observed around similar plumes,...…Australia’smost recent wildfire season was so severe that smoke from the fires reached newheights in the atmosphere — and showed some very weird behavior while it was upthere.Aparticularly intense series of bushfires in southeastern Australia fromDecember 29 to January 4 spurred the formation of huge (SN: 10/22/10). Thosefire-fueled thunderstorms launched between 300,000 and 900,000 metric tons ofsmoke into the stratosphere, which was more than any seen from a previous inferno.One especially large, long-lasting smoke plume .Those winds have never been observed around similar plumes,...WW…

Astronomersthink they’ve spotted the first example of a superbright blast of radio waves,called a fast radio burst, originating within the Milky Way.Dozensof these bursts have been sighted in other galaxies — all(SN: 2/7/20). But the outburst in ourown galaxy, detected simultaneously by two radio arrays on April 28, was closeenough to see that it was generated by a highly magnetic neutron star called amagnetar.Thatobservation is a smoking gun that magnetars are behind at least some of theextragalactic fast radio bursts, or FRBs, that have (SN: 7/25/14). Researchers describe the...…Astronomersthink they’ve spotted the first example of a superbright blast of radio waves,called a fast radio burst, originating within the Milky Way.Dozensof these bursts have been sighted in other galaxies — all(SN: 2/7/20). But the outburst in ourown galaxy, detected simultaneously by two radio arrays on April 28, was closeenough to see that it was generated by a highly magnetic neutron star called amagnetar.Thatobservation is a smoking gun that magnetars are behind at least some of theextragalactic fast radio bursts, or FRBs, that have (SN: 7/25/14). Researchers describe the...WW…

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted objects in the early universe that might be a new kind of star — one powered by dark matter. These “dark stars” are still hypothetical. Their identification in JWST images is far from certain. But if any of the three candidates — reported in the July 25 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — turn out to be this new type of star, they could offer a glimpse of star formation in the early universe, hint at the nature of dark matter and possibly explain the origins of supermassive black holes. ...…The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted objects in the early universe that might be a new kind of star — one powered by dark matter. These “dark stars” are still hypothetical. Their identification in JWST images is far from certain. But if any of the three candidates — reported in the July 25 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — turn out to be this new type of star, they could offer a glimpse of star formation in the early universe, hint at the nature of dark matter and possibly explain the origins of supermassive black holes. ...WW…