Category Archives: news briefs

It’s a cliche that people who live in large cities generally talk faster and louder than their rural counterparts. And it looks like city birds also sing differently than their country cousins. In the July 17 Nature, Hans Slabbekoorn and … Continue reading →

Take a deep breath and relax, doom-from-the-sky watchers. Researchers from the United Kingdom and Russia report that stony asteroids slamming into Earth are less of a threat than previously thought. The researchers say that, based on their computer simulations, the … Continue reading →

Forget cheese. It’s chocolate that drives mice wild, and now, it seems, to their deaths. Researchers from the University of Warwick in England, in collaboration with Sorex Ltd., a manufacturer of pest control products in Cheshire, have developed a chocolate-scented … Continue reading →

Don’t tell the children, but Nemo may be a potential transsexual. To ensure harmony in its tight-knit fishy community, it appears that the colorful clownfish can adjust its sex, size, and growth rate, Peter Buston reports in the July 10 … Continue reading →

Wait staff who mimic their customers get bigger tips, Dutch researchers report in the July issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. No, the waitress who imitates her customer’s stutter won’t be raking in the dough, but if she … Continue reading →

It’s bad enough that some scientists are still debating whether Pluto is a planet at all, but now there’s another Plutonian mystery. Completely unexpectedly, Pluto’s thin nitrogen atmosphere has been found to be expanding, researchers report in the July 10 … Continue reading →

In yet another example of how monkeylike humans are (or how humanlike monkeys are), monkeys can link sounds to specific facial expressions, report researchers in the June 26 Nature. Rhesus monkeys communicate using their faces and voices. Among their most … Continue reading →

Opposites don’t attract, at least in regard to choosing a long-term mate, say researchers at Cornell University in a study published online last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Peter M. Buston and Stephen T. Emlen … Continue reading →

Here’s some great news for particle-physics enthusiasts: A new type of subatomic particle has been discovered! And for you non-particle-physics enthusiasts, here’s a primer: Quarks are the elementary particles that make up the subatomic particles that make up atoms that … Continue reading →

Sex among the arachnids isn’t particularly romantic to the human eye: female spiders routinely attempt to munch on their mates during or after copulation. And it makes sense: The females need the extra nutrition for their offspring-to-be. Most males try … Continue reading →