Researchers have discovered that mother jumping spiders (Toxeus magnus, an ant mimic) nurse their young with a milk-like substance. (Credit: Chen/Science)
Got milk? Of course you do; few things are as uniquely mammalian as our milky infancies. Sure, we’ve all got backbones (but so do lizards), warm blood (but so do birds), and hair (but so do plants) – but it’s the mammary glands from which mothers nurse their young that really set us mammals apart from the rest of the Tree o ...read more
Ain Boucherit, a site in Algeria, has yielded numerous stone tools, such as this Oldowan core. The tools are up to 2.4 million years old and were found with hundreds of animal bones, several of which show signs of butchery. (Credit: M. Sahnouni)
Stone tools and animal bones with cut marks, excavated at a site in eastern Algeria, are up to 2.4 million years old, the oldest archaeological evidence in North Africa and one of the oldest known examples of butchery. The finds suggest hominins, m ...read more
(Credit: Thithawat.S/Shutterstock)
If you think dating culture only applies to humans, think again.
A team of researchers recently discovered that female fruit flies take their mating preferences from their peers. When presented with a few differently-colored suitors, the flies were more likely to choose the color they’d seen other flies select before them. This kind of conformity suggests that the fruit flies are passing behaviors among themselves socially — what we huma ...read more
A gray whale shows off their baleen, the comb-like structure attached to their gums that allows them to filter feed. Previous theories explaining how baleen evolved might be wrong after researchers gave an ancient whales’ mouth a closer look. (Credit: Jo Crebbin/Shutterstock)
One of the great mysteries in marine research is how whales developed baleen, the unique array of plates and bristles that allow them to filter thousands of pounds of krill and plankton every day.
Because baleen wha ...read more
Stone tools found at Saffaqah, in central Saudi Arabia, include (a) a large flake with a smaller flake created during tool manufacture still attached, (b) other large flakes, (c) a handaxe and (d) a large core. (Credit: Scerri et al 2018, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-35242-5)
Hundreds of stone tools and related materials, found in central Saudi Arabia, reveal new information about early migrations of archaic humans into Southwest Asia. The discovery suggests multiple waves of tool ...read more
Enterobacter cloacae bacteria cultured in a petri dish. In a new study, scientists have investigated the antibiotic-resistance of bacteria on the space station. (Credit: CDC)
Space Bacteria
Wherever humans go, our bacterial companions will follow. That’s as true in space as it is on Earth, and while we’ve known that microbial astronauts are present on the International Space Station, one group of researchers has just found a new reason to worry about them.
A genomic analysis of sam ...read more
An Adventure to Venus
Though widespread interest in Venus has somewhat waned over recent decades, India’s upcoming mission aims to turn that tide.
As part of a still unnamed mission, ISRO will launch an approximately 5,500-pound (2,500-kilogram) spacecraft aboard the heaviest rocket they currently operate: the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III. The sheer size and power of this three-stage rocket will enable the spacecraft to ferry a full suite of instruments, weighing up to ...read more
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Researchers have discovered another Milky Way satellite that’s as large as the LMC but is 10,000 times fainter. (Credit: ESA/NASA/Hubble)
A Strange New Galaxy
An unusual, enormous, and ancient dwarf galaxy looms near the Milky Way, 424,000 light-years away from Earth in the Antlia constellation, a new study found using data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia spacecraft.
Scientists estimate that dozens o ...read more
(Credit: kletr/Shutterstock)
In chimpanzee societies, a whistle followed by a high-pitched hoot seems to mean, “I’m leaving.” Energetic grunts probably say “good food.” And a hip thrust could signal that chimp is ready to get frisky.
These rough translations result from decades of research on chimp communication. In addition to revealing what apes are saying (big surprise: food and sex), the results also reflect why and how chimps communicate — and how this ...read more
An older version of an ultra-stable ytterbium lattice atomic clock at NIST. Ytterbium atoms are generated in an oven (large metal cylinder on the left) and sent to a vacuum chamber in the center of the photo to be manipulated and probed by lasers. Laser light is transported to the clock by five fibers (such as the yellow fiber in the lower center of the photo). (Credit: Burrus/NIST)
Time, like money, only seems important when it’s running out. But to physicists, time is always a big deal ...read more
