Despite our couch potato lifestyles, long-distance running is in our genes. A new study in mice pinpoints how a stretch of DNA likely turned our ancestors into marathoners, giving us the endurance to conquer territory, evade predators, and eventually … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Blister beetles are born with a mission: Infiltrate a bee’s nest. And they waste no time getting to work. The larvae emerge from their eggs by the hundreds, climb the nearest blade of grass and coalesce into a wriggling ball of bodies and faux bee … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The water bottle could be from Los Angeles, the food container from Manila, and the plastic bag from Shanghai…. But whatever its specific source, almost all of the trash in the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from countries around the … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
A four-year study by scientists at the University of California, Irvine found that bonnethead sharks don’t just eat crabs and other small fish, but also live off a diet of sea grass. Researchers at the School of Biological Sciences called the bonnethead … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The weird hexagon swirling around Saturn’s north pole is much taller than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Researchers have generally regarded the 20,000-mile-wide (32,000 kilometers) hexagon — a jet stream composed of air moving at about … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Here’s a bold idea to fight back against bacteria that can’t be stopped by antibiotics: Go after them with germ-eating microbes. That reasoning lies behind an intriguing line of research that might also be put to use in the event of a germ-warfare … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The mysterious, fabled “Planet 9” will have nowhere to hide once a new astronomical experiment is underway, scientists think. Some scientists believe a mysterious, as-yet-unseen planet might be causing a number of minor planets to take strangely … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
It’s the age-old question that always sparks debate. The “chicken or egg” paradox was first proposed by philosophers in Ancient Greece to describe the problem of determining cause-and-effect. Now a team of physicists from The University of Queensland … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
New research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Trento finds that 21-month-old infants can distinguish between two broad types of social power: respect-based power exerted by a leader (who might be an authority … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
What’s the most germ-filled spot in an airport? The bathrooms? Those crowded waiting areas? The passport checking counter? Surprisingly, none of the above. A new study from a team of experts from the UK’s University of Nottingham and the Finnish National … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary