Biology
Future Wet Suits Otter Be Warmer
Future wet suits with surface textures like the thick fur of otters that trap insulating air layers could keep tomorrow's divers warmer in icy waters.
Stories by Cynthia Graber
Culture
Oldest Known Indigo Dye Found in Peru
Fabric dyed with indigo just found in Peru is some 1,600 years older than indigo-dyed fabrics that have been found in the Middle East.
Culture
Ancient Mexican Metropolis Engaged in Hare-Raising Activity
Upending the belief that residents of ancient Central America did not practice animal husbandry, new evidence shows that people in Teotihuacán raised and bred rabbits and hares.&..
Biology
This Shark Is the Vertebrate Methuselah
Individual Greenland sharks appear to live perhaps a century longer than any other vertebrate, and might have life spans approaching 500 years.
Public Health
Silk Road Transported Goods--and Disease
A 2,000-year-old latrine in China provides the first hard evidence that people carried diseases long distances along the ancient trading route.
Biology
Electric Eels versus Horses: Shocking but True
Kenneth Catania of Vanderbilt University talks to Cynthia Graber about electric eel research that led him to accept 19th-century naturalist Alexander von Humboldt's account of electric eels attacking horses...
Chemistry
Submerged Lost City Really Bacterially Built
What looked like human-made structures underwater off Greece turned out to be millions-of-years-old concretions deposited by bacteria.
Culture
Oldest Chinese Beer Brewery Found
Remnants of a beer-making operation some 5,000 years old have been found in northern China.
Biology
This Plant Bleeds Nectar to Attract Help
When a species of nightshade is injured by hungry beetles, it produces sugary nectar at the wound site. The nectar attracts ants that then keep the beetles at bay.
Culture
Find Shows Widespread Literacy 2,600 Years Ago in Judah
Mundane notes about daily life on 16 ceramic shards written about 600 B.C. at an ancient military fortress in the Negev Desert reveal that literacy had to be common.
Conservation
Garbage Pickings Get Storks to Stop Migrating
Some white storks have stopped migrating from Europe to sub-Saharan Africa in the winter, because of the availability of food in landfills.
Health
Quick Test Could Tell If a Patient Needs Antibiotics
Antibiotics work against bacterial infections but are often prescribed to people with viral infections, which don't respond to the drugs. But a new gene test could show if a patient's infection is viral or bacterial...
Health
Better Gut Microbiome Census through Computing
Sophisticated computational techniques make it possible to analyze gene samples from all the bacteria in the gut at once to take a census of the species present.
The Sciences
Iceman Ötzi Died with a Bellyache
Researchers were able to determine the genome of stomach bacteria that infected the famous Iceman at the time of his death, in the process giving us clues about ancient human migrations...
Health
Individuals' Blood Glucose Levels after Meals May Be Predictable
Closely tracking 800 people's blood glucose levels in response to meals allowed researchers to develop a predictive algorithm for individuals
Environment
Massive Survey Creates Amazon Tree Census
A tree survey in the Amazon by more than 150 researchers led to an estimate that up to 57 percent of Amazon trees could qualify for threatened species status by 2050
Health
Urban Food Foraging Looks Fruitful
Fruits growing wild in urban areas were found to be healthful and to contain lower levels of lead than what's considered safe in drinking water
The Sciences
Stone Age Pottery Reveals Signs of Beekeeping
Beeswax residues found on shards of stone age pottery in the Mediterranean region indicate that humans were keeping honeybees as early as 9,000 years ago
The Sciences
Fall Foliage Timing Comes into Clearer Focus
Researchers picked apart satellite imagery from two New England forest ecosystems to get a better handle on exactly what factors influence the timing of the color changes of the autumn leaves...
The Sciences
Ancient Human Ancestors Heard Differently
Early human species may have had sharper hearing in certain frequencies than we enjoy, to facilitate short-range communication in an open environment. Cynthia Graber reports
