(Credit: Arthur-studio10/Shutterstock)
Good news for anyone who enjoys singing, or being sarcastic — or really, just talking in general. Scientists have precisely mapped, and now better understand, the part of the brain that allows you to do what you do: change the pitch of your voice to hit notes or emphasize certain words.
The work, by a team of neuroscientists at the University of California, San Francisco, appears today in the journal Cell, and specifically looked at how ...read more
The dog has walked beside humans longer than any other animal, but science has only recently begun to understand how domestication occurred. (Credit: G. Tarlach)
Who’s a good dog? The very first dogs, apparently, as a new genetic study reveals the sequence of events, begun thousands of years ago, that morphed wild wolves into (eventually) couchwarmers and ball catchers.
If you wrote a book about animal domestication, the story of turning wolves into dogs would arguably deser ...read more
A science traverse in 2007 to 2009 crossed the East Antarctic Plateau in late summer. The coldest conditions on Earth occur in this region few months later, in July and August, during the polar night. (Photo: Ted Scambos, NSIDC.)
We’ve now got new insight into just how extreme conditions on our planet can get — at opposite ends of the thermometer.
In a new study, a team of researchers has found that some sites in Antarctica get as cold as minus 98 degrees C ...read more
A new study suggests GMO opposition dropped in Vermont following a mandatory GMO labeling law. (Sally McCay, University of Vermont)
Scientists and food companies have long worried that GMO labels on food will be viewed like the warnings on cigarettes and alcohol — an admission that the product is unhealthy.
Many anti-GMO advocates — beyond pushing for transparency — thought labels might hurt sales and force corporations to back off genet ...read more
An animation of GOES-16 weather satellite images shows thick plumes of smoke billowing from wildfires in California on June 24 and 25, 2018. (Note: When you click on the image, you will be taken to another website to watch the animation. It may take a little time load properly. Source: RAMMB/CIRA)
As I’m writing this Wednesday, June 27, 51 large, active wildfires are burning on more than 450,000 acres in the United States, most of them in western states and Alaska. That ...read more
Saturn’s moon Enceladus. (Credit: NASA)
A new analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft indicates the presence of large organic molecules on Enceladus, something not found on the moon before.
Using two instruments aboard the now-perished orbiter, an international team of researchers looked at molecules erupting with plumes of water vapor streaming from beneath Enceladus’ surface. Though similar experiments have been performed in th ...read more
The unique properties of graphene allow researchers to use electricity to control how much infrared light can pass through it. (Credit: Coskun Kocabas)
Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak seemed to do a good job of hiding him for many adventures after curfew, but what if the professors patrolling Hogwarts had thermal imaging technology? Would Harry’s cloak have obscured his body heat as well?
If not, he might want to upgrade his magical cloak with some nanos ...read more
Researchers have found changes to rabbit brains that may explain why your pet bunny is so snuggly.Photo Credit: Alex
The process of domestication fundamentally changes an animal’s looks and behavior. Floppier ears and a loss of fear of humans, for example, are nearly universal in domesticated species. Now, researchers have learned what domestication looks like in the brain—at least, for rabbits.
It’s not exactly clear whe ...read more
