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from American Scientist Ancient Greek trade ships shuttled millions of amphoras—ceramic, vase-shaped storage jars—around the Mediterranean and Black seas. The containers are generally thought to have carried wine, but a new DNA analysis of nine jars, aged 2,200 to 2,400 years, suggests the freight was more diverse. Also in this issue’s news roundup: the colors of . . . → Read More: In the News: Olives, Herbs and Juniper from ScienceNOW Daily News Talk about a ride gone wrong. A tiny mite climbed onto a spider’s back at least 44 million years ago, but the spider stumbled into a glob of sticky tree sap. That makes the duo the oldest known fossil evidence of hitch-hiking behavior, or phoresy, in a large group of mites . . . → Read More: A 44-Million-Year-Old Hitchhiker from American Scientist Movie critics might do their readers a favor by slipping more plot spoilers into their reviews. Far from wrecking a story, revealing a surprise ending makes fiction more enjoyable. Also in this issue’s news roundup: Missing oxygen, Carboniferous harvestmen and leaves with special . . . → Read More: In the News: Spoiler Alert from ScienceNOW Daily News There’s nothing subtle about dryer lint: Clean the fluffy, gray mat off the filter or risk a fire. Washer lint, however, is sneaky. Nearly 2000 polyester fibers can float away, unseen, from a single fleece sweater in one wash cycle, a new study reports. That synthetic lint likely makes its way . . . → Read More: Laundry Lint Pollutes the World’s Oceans October 17, 2011 While trekking in the Annapurna region of Nepal on vacation, we saw some curious invertebrates. Here are their portraits. If anybody knows (a) what the millepedes are up to and/or (b) whether that snail engulfing its own shell is normal, please comment! You can click on the small images to download high-res versions. . . . → Read More: Vacation Invertebrates from PRI’s The World Aishalton, Guyana, is a dusty savanna town on the edge of tropical forest. Like many indigenous communities in and around South America’s Amazon Basin, it’s a village in transition. Some villagers fear that overhunting will become a problem. Click below to hear a radio story about Aishalton’s unusual collaboration with international . . . → Read More: Customized Atlases of the Amazon from American Scientist If it turns out that free will is an illusion, we’d only be losing something we never had. But believing in that loss makes a difference. Also in this issue’s news roundup: One day on Neptune, cheater physics and insect mind control. Use the links below to see the new, freshened-up page format, . . . → Read More: In the News: Agency Angst from American Scientist If peahens (Pavo cristatus) tally eyespots on their suitors’ Psychologist Disa Sauter studies how culture influences the way people express emotions such as disgust, fear and pleasure. Sometimes her work takes her to remote communities. In this segment, she recalls a musical experience in a Himba village in Namibia. The segment aired on The World on June 22, introduced by host Lisa Mullins. from ScienceNOW Daily News The animal kingdom is full of fakes: tasty butterflies that look like toxic ones, harmless flies that look like bees, and spiders that look like ants, to name a few. It’s all a big ploy to avoid being eaten. Some species sport less-convincing disguises than others, and the existence of these . . . → Read More: A Cheap Imitation Is Sometimes Best |
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Copyright © 2012 Elsa Youngsteadt - All Rights Reserved |
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