Science

Pinpointing when our ancient ancestors evolved humanlike brains is a frustratingly difficult puzzle. Brains almost never fossilize, so researchers must scrutinize impressions in the skull left behind by the brain’s grooves, folds, and bulges. A new analysis of such imprints from five skulls suggests our genus, Homo, developed complex language […]

On 15 April 2020, a wave of gamma rays, nature’s most powerful kind of light, washed across the Solar System like a storm front. First contact came above Mars, where photons at energies comparable to the radiation from a nuclear bomb peppered a Russian particle detector on NASA’s Mars Odyssey […]

Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, one of Germany’s top psychologists and an expert in treating anxiety and phobias, is not shy about promoting himself. His email signature says he is a “highly cited researcher,” and with good reason. He has almost 1000 articles to his name, according to the Web of Science, and […]

Atlantic cod was once one of the most important fish species in the world. The big, long-lived predator helped feed Europe and North America for centuries. But decades of overfishing in the mid–20th century caused populations to crash, wiping out 30,000 jobs in Canada alone and financially devastating many coastal […]

To save a starving child, aid workers have long used one obvious treatment: food. But a new study suggests feeding their gut bacteria may be as important—or even more important—than feeding their stomachs. In a head-to-head comparison against a leading treatment for malnutrition, a new supplement designed to promote helpful […]

As climate change melts sea ice earlier in the year, polar bears have begun to hunt for meals on land, like bird eggs. They’re not very good at it, a new drone-based study reveals. That could be another bad omen for the bears’ ability to survive a changing world, scientists […]

Last week, scientists at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), Brazil’s lead agency for studying and managing the nation’s vast protected areas, had to start abiding by an unwelcome new rule. It gives one of ICMBio’s top officials the authority to review all “manuscripts, texts and scientific compilations” […]