Category Archives: boston globe

The coot, a common water bird, can recognize and “count” its own eggs, according to a study published in the April 3 Nature by biologist Bruce E. Lyon of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Coots often lay their … Continue reading →

As a not particularly attractive job description, evolutionary faecologist would probably rank right up there with, oh, just regular old faecologist. But the often-ignored study of excrement can lead to strange discoveries. For example, the skipper caterpillar can shoot its … Continue reading →

Do you think of Neanderthals as lumbering, slow, and clumsy? Think again, at least in regard to their hands. According to a report in the March 27 Nature, Neanderthals were as manually dextrous as modern humans. Neanderthals were previously thought … Continue reading →

In January 2002, a star named V838 Monocerotis suddenly became 600,000 times brighter than the sun, briefly becoming the brightest star in the Milky Way. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured the explosion in all its glory, showing the reverberation … Continue reading →

Male armpit sweat seems to be a mood-altering substance for women, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Not only does it make women more relaxed and happy, but it also … Continue reading →

With the fear of terrorists using dirty bombs increasing, screening for smuggled nuclear materials has become more important than ever. Physicists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have invented a device that uses cosmic rays to detect … Continue reading →

Famed for their temples, their astronomy, and their human sacrifices, the Mayan civilization’s sudden collapse has always been mysterious. In the eighth century, the Mayan empire, which lasted more than a thousand years, stretched from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula to Honduras, … Continue reading →

Most people find it depressing to contemplate the ultimate fate of the universe. Will it recollapse in a Big Crunch, or expand forever, becoming cold and dark? Robert Caldwell of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and his colleagues have come … Continue reading →

Footprints more than 300,000 years old have been found along the side of an inactive volcano in southern Italy. Though footprints more than 3 million years old have been discovered in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, they are thought to have been … Continue reading →