by Julia Calderone | Apr 27, 2014 | Posts
When you cross a helium-filled balloon with a kite, you get a Helikite. Watch the slideshow to learn how scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute are using it for ocean research. Balloon + Kite = Helikite. For science! This is “Balloon + Kite =...
by Jyoti Madhusoodanan | Apr 25, 2014 | Posts
From Sonoma to San Diego, a dense spread of fleshy green leaves mats the California coastline. The pink and yellow blooms brighten grey beaches, and speckle sunny sands as frequently as people and gulls do. They’re pretty, pervasive – and alien. Ice plant, known to...
by Matt Davenport | Apr 18, 2014 | Posts
Last year was a banner year for brain research, at least financially speaking. Europe and the United States both launched what could amount to billion-dollar brain studies over the next decade. But before Europe’s Human Brain Project got running, there were rumors...
by Patricia Waldron | Apr 14, 2014 | Posts
Europe has a long history of bear hunting, for meat, fur, bounty and sport. Hundreds of years of hunting had wiped out bears in most of the countries. Even today, tourists can still go on trophy hunts in parts of Eastern European. But it isn’t all bad news for bears....
by Nsikan Akpan | Apr 12, 2014 | Posts
Let’s try something new. I predicted that my story on a ‘Measles Outbreak Traced to a Fully Vaccinated Patient for First Time’ would generate a cloud of comments on Facebook (Science Magazine + ScienceNOW). Like a storm offshore, I saw it coming. So I posed extra...
by Cat Ferguson | Mar 21, 2014 | Posts
There’s been a lot of discussion in the last few years about the Keystone Pipeline, a network of pipelines being built to transport oil from Canada to the United States. President Obama has gotten hit from both sides: some have criticised him for slowing down a...
by Cynthia McKelvey | Mar 18, 2014 | Posts
The theme for my posts this quarter seems to be, “weird things that happened to Cynthia’s skin.” This time, it’s mosquito bites. I’ve had allergic reactions to mosquito bites ever since I can remember. My reactions range from small red splotches that itch for days to...
by Julia Calderone | Mar 14, 2014 | Posts
When I wake up in the morning, I stumble into my kitchen, plunge a spoon into a jar of solidified coconut oil and scoop it into my mouth. I soften the oil with my tongue and swish it around, pushing and pulling it between my teeth for exactly 20 minutes. After I spit...
by Becky Bach | Mar 12, 2014 | Posts
Several dozen United States senators started the week without sleep—an all-nighter to draw the nation’s attention to climate change policy. They’re aiming for a bill to minimize its damage. Planning preventative policies is great, a handful of experts said at Climate...
by Jyoti Madhusoodanan | Mar 12, 2014 | Posts
Are four treats better than two? Not if you’re a crow picking a favorite snack. Crows and ravens hold off on gobbling a tidbit when they can see a better one coming after a short wait. But they’ll only act with restraint if the future treat is something they like more...
by Matt Davenport | Mar 11, 2014 | Posts
A version of this post can be found at the AGU GeoSpace Blog and at NASA Landsat Science. California’s persistent drought is forcing grape growers to keep a more-attentive-than-normal eye on their vines, as water shortages and elevated temperatures alter this year’s...
by Nsikan Akpan | Mar 3, 2014 | Posts
Fossilized feces may sound gross, but its hidden lessons about microbes certainly don’t stink. A petrified piece of poop—called a “coprolite”—from the 14th century has unveiled the earliest evidence of antibiotic resistance genes in the human gut microbiome. The...
