Killer whales may use kelp brushes to slough off rough skin
The whales use quick body movements to tear pieces of bull kelp for use as tools, perhaps the first known toolmaking by a marine mammal.
Category: Science
Ancient ‘female-centered’ society thrived 9,000 years ago in proto-city in Turkey
Genetic analysis of skeletons buried in a Neolithic proto-city in Turkey reveals that female lineages were important in early agricultural societies.
Enigmatic ‘runner’ dinosaur from Colorado helps rewrite understanding of several Jurassic species
The discovery of Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, a dog-size “runner” dinosaur, has left researchers re-evaluating Nanosaurus and several other US dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation in Colorado.
Scientists find new way of spotting invisible ‘plasma bubbles’ lurking in Earth’s upper atmosphere
Researchers in China have developed a way of locating giant “equatorial plasma bubbles” in the ionosphere by analyzing the vibrant airglow that forms above them.
The Trump administration says it wants to eliminate FEMA. Here’s what we know
Every year, millions of Americans rely on FEMA assistance after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and other disasters. The president says state governments should do more. (Image
This bug’s all-in helicopter parenting reshaped its eggs
An egg-shape trend found among birds shows up in miniature with very protective bug parents. Elongated eggs fit more compactly under mom.
AI can measure our cultural history. But is it accurate?
Art and literature hint at past people’s psyches. Now computers can identify patterns in those cognitive fossils, but human expertise remains crucial.
Indigenous funeral urns discovered on human-made islands in Amazon rainforest
Giant ceramic pots made centuries to millennia ago were found to hold human bones, while others held a mixture of seeds and the remains of
‘Pulsing, like a heartbeat’: Rhythmic mantle plume rising beneath Ethiopia is creating a new ocean
Scientists have detected rhythmic pulses of molten rock rising beneath eastern Africa, threatening to pull the continent apart.
This supermassive black hole is eating way too quickly — and ‘burping’ at near-light speeds
Using the XMM-Newton telescope, astronomers have witnessed high-speed “burps” erupting from a distant overfeeding supermassive black hole.
Mailed self-sample kits boosted cervical cancer screening
People who are uninsured or part of a minority racial or ethnic group are underscreened for cervical cancer. Mailing them a self-sample kit may help.
Zombifying fungi have been infecting insects for 99 million years
Two bits of amber discovered in a lab basement hold ancient evidence of a fungi famous for controlling the minds of its victims.
Waning Crescent Moon
NASA astronaut Bob Hines took this picture of the waning crescent moon on May 8, 2022, as the International Space Station flew into an orbital
A New Pyramid-Like Shape Always Lands the Same Side Up
In 360 BCE, Plato envisioned the cosmos as an arrangement of five geometric shapes: flat-sided solids called polyhedra. These immediately became important objects of mathematical