Social area of the brain sets threat level of animals

A particular wrinkle in the brain may be where you separate a scary scorpion from a benign bunny.  The brain area, involved in social behav...

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Heartburn drugs can damage cells that line blood vessels

A popular type of heartburn medicine could hasten wear and tear of blood vessels. Proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, gunk up cells that typi...

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Kepler telescope doubles its count of known exoplanets

The galaxy is starting to feel a little crowded. Over 1,000 planets have just been added to the roster of worlds known to orbit other stars...

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Mercury’s stunning landscape mapped

View animation Mercury has never looked better. Volcanic plains, craters, mountains and valleys are showcased in the first complete topogr...

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Large Hadron Collider starts its 2016 physics run

The Large Hadron Collider is back in business. On May 9, after its regular winter hiatus, CERN’s particle accelerator outside Geneva offici...

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History of road-tripping shaped camel DNA

Arabian camels ( Camelus dromedarius ) have trekked across ancient caravan routes in Asia and Africa for 3,000 years. But it’s unclear how ...

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Long-running lunar mission reveals moon’s surprises

Not all cosmic mysteries lie light-years away. Some secrets are being unearthed on our nearest neighbor, about a quarter of a million miles ...

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Communicating covertly goes quantum

Coded messages can keep your secrets safe, but you also might prefer to conceal the fact that you’re communicating at all. Now, scientists a...

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When measuring lead in water, check the temperature

Lead contamination in drinking water can change with the seasons. Tracking lead levels in water pipes over several months, researchers disc...

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Crocodile eyes are optimized for lurking

Years ago, when I visited the Daintree Rainforest in northeastern Australia, I couldn’t help but notice the signs — several of them — warnin...

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This week in Zika: An anniversary, how the virus kills brain cells and more

One year ago, Brazil reported the first laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika. The virus had cropped up elsewhere in a few earlier outbreaks, ...

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Mercury is about to make a rare journey across the face of the sun

The planet Mercury is about to throw some shade at Earth. For about seven hours on Monday, May 9, the innermost planet will trek across th...

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U.S. oil and gas boom behind rising ethane levels

A single oil and gas field centered in North Dakota spews 1 to 3 percent of all global ethane emissions, about 230,000 metric tons annually...

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Venus flytraps use defensive genes for predation

Venus flytraps ( Dionaea muscipula ) make carnivory look cool. But the genes that make it possible have roots in herbviory.   Though moder...

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Some Crohn’s genes make cells deaf to messages from good gut bacteria

Good gut bacteria might not help people with Crohn’s disease. Protective microbial messages go unread in mice and in human immune cells w...

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Some Crohn’s genes make cells deaf to messages from good gut bacteria

Good gut bacteria might not help people with Crohn’s disease. Protective microbial messages go unread in mice and in human immune cells w...

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Asian primates hit hard by ancient climate change

Fossil discoveries in southern China point to an evolutionary crossroads around 34 million years ago that resulted in humans evolving in Afr...

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Here’s what a leaf looks like during a fatal attack of bubbles

A decent office scanner has beaten X-ray blasts from multimillion-dollar synchrotron setups in revealing how air bubbles kill plant leaves ...

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Leptospirosis bacterium still haunts swimming holes

Danger in ‘swimming hole’   — As warm weather approaches, the old swimming hole will again beckon boys and girls in farm areas. But disease ...

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Cause of mass starfish die-offs is still a mystery

In the summer of 2013, an epidemic began sweeping through the intertidal zone off the west coast of North America. The victims were several ...

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