Kid Scientists Make Real Fossil Finds at the USA Science & Engineering Festival
Kids searching for fossils using SharkFinder kits at Scientific American’s booth at the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Credit: Jason Osborne Jason Osborne was trying to grab a quick lunch away from the crowds when his wife called his cellphone.
Bone Dusters Paleo Ale Gets A Rockin’ Label
Sometimes you never know where your work will end up. Take this figure depicting the evolution of whales that I created for Jerry Coyne’s book, Why Evolution is True.
Y Chromosome May Protect Against Cancer, Other Diseases
Elderly men who have lost the Y in blood cells have their lives cut short, compared with men who still have the little chromosome
Frog-Killing Fungus Meets Its Match in Tiny Predators
As I reported in a feature story in Scientific American last December , some fungi have been behaving badly of late, attacking bats, plants, amphibians, reptiles, and people with gusto, driving many species to extinction and others to the brink.
Death Valley's First Life Came in by Land, Not by Sea
Relying on evidence from Southwestern deserts, a biologist debunks an evolutionary theory that assumes continental sterility for Precambrian life
Worm Lizards: Lifestyles of the Limbless
There have never been enough amphisbaenians on Tet Zoo. In fact, the only time I've written about them at any sort of length is in the 2008 (and 2012) April Fool's article wherein they were convincingly (cough) shown to be the true ancestors of mammals.
The Beguiling History of Bees [Excerpt]
The first bees existed around 130 million years ago at a time when our own ancestors were small, ratlike creatures
Can Whales and Dolphins Make Mental Maps?
The brains of cetaceans--dolphins and whales--differ from those of other mammals in a number of ways, but one of the most striking differences is the size of the hippocampus. As a general rule, the larger the size of a mammal’s brain, the smaller the fraction of it that the hippocampus occupies, so dolphins and whales [...]
Speedy Fish's Swordlike Bill Serves as Multifunctional Killing Tool
High-speed video now reveals the bill as a specialized weapon that can exert great power or nudge prey gently
Charles Darwin and the Early Search for Extraterrestrial Life
In August 1881 the journal “Science” published an article with a letter exchange by two amateur geologist – British Charles R.
Reprieve for Men: Y Chromosome Is Not Vanishing
Alarming shrinkage has stopped, researchers say, because the Y is a bastion of elite genes that play vital roles throughout the body
Preventing Food Allergies: to Avoid or Expose?
Nearly four out of every 100 children in the U.S. have a food allergy, according to CDC data from 2007. Avoiding common food allergens, such as peanuts, eggs, tree nuts and fish, for the first few years of life was the prescription for prevention for many years, but in 2008 the American Academy of Pediatrics [...]