Stories by Brendan Borrell

All In The Family

What persuaded the male hominid to stick around after mating?

Origins: Going Back to Where the Story Really Starts

Sometimes we forget where a story really starts. Are electric cars new? Where did malaria start? Who invented spaghetti? Read on, for the surprising origins of many strange and familiar things...

Cash for Conservation: Threats and Promises of Paying Communities for Their Biodiversity

With global biodiversity continuing to decline, conservationists have started paying people to leave forests, watersheds and wildlife intact

Swine Ebola

A new reservoir for the infamous Ebola virus

National Academy as National Enquirer? PNAS Publishes Theory That Caterpillars Originated from Interspecies Sex

A retired zoologist claims that the metamorphic transition from caterpillar to butterfly may have arisen when different kinds of animals accidentally mated with one another, but experts are skeptical...

Massachusetts pushes waste-based biofuels, holds off on corn, algae, and switchgrass

Got Goat's Milk? The Quest to Save Dairy from Climate Change

Although the dairy industry wants a free pass for carbon emissions, some scientists are looking for ways to help it cope with a warming climate

The Origin of Wine

Imbibing the liquid of fermented fruit may have had its start in medicinal traditions

Purported dodeca-mom delusional, probably not pregnant, authorities say

Bizarre Fossil Organisms Likely Absorbed Nutrients through Their Skin

The first complex organisms soaked up sustenance from nutrient-rich oceans 500 million years ago

Dodeca-mom could smash multiple birth record with 12 babies

A woman in Tunisia is said to be pregnant with six boys and six girls, The Sun reported yesterday.

If the woman, a teacher in her 30s who was not named in the newspaper, successfully delivers all 12 infants, as she has vowed to do, she would be going against medical advice and shattering the world record for multiple births...

Marijuana growers started California wildfires

Serious bummer, dude. California's totally ablaze, and the cops are laying the blame on marijuana growers.

That's right. Investigators with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Narcotics Unit have confirmed that the camp at the origin of the La Brea fire was an illegal marijuana operation believed to be run by a Mexican drug organization...

The 2009 hurricane season heats up: Ana, Claudette and Bill

Open-Source Textbooks a Mixed Bag in California

Downloadable and free, maybe--but the schoolhouse Wiki revolution will have to wait

Alien Invasion? An Ecologist Doubts the Impact of Exotic Species

Many conservationists have dedicated their lives to eradicating invasive plant and animal species, but Mark Davis wants them to reassess their missions

ExxonMobil guilty in deaths of migratory birds in five states

Cooked Results: Modern Toolmaker Uses Fire to Solve 72,000-Year-Old Mystery

Archaeologists in South Africa have uncovered the earliest evidence of humans using pyrotechnology to shape their stone tools

Swine flu strikes Amazonian Indians

Swine flu has been reported for the first time in Amazonian Indians, raising fears that the virus will cause more contagion and potential deaths in tribal groups around the world.

Slow hurricane season so far, but new tropical depression looms in the Atlantic

As Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan over the weekend triggering massive mudslides and leaving hundreds missing, Americans along the Gulf Coast may have thought they were getting off easy this storm season...

Camel burgers: Australia plans to shoot 650,000 camels

Here’s a potentially tasty solution to Australia’s invasive species: Eat them.   The Australian government plans to fly in marksmen on helicopters to shoot 650,000 camels and turn them into burgers and other meaty treats, reports the Associated Press...