Category Archives: news briefs

How do babies get that super soft skin? According to researchers at the Skin Sciences Institute of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, it may be due to vernix, the greasy, white substance made of fats, proteins, and water that coats … Continue reading →

It’s long been thought that fish don’t feel pain, but in a study released last week by the Royal Society, Britain’s national academy of science, researchers say they have conclusive proof that they do. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh … Continue reading →

Researchers have sequenced the genome of the bacterium that causes anthrax, reports the May 1 Nature. Anthrax is found naturally in farm animals and other mammals, and gained notoriety when it was maliciously used to kill people through the US … Continue reading →

While acknowledging that firm diagnosis on the dead is impossible, autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University, UK, thinks Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton showed signs of Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that doesn’t cause learning problems, reported New … Continue reading →

The tooth fairy had better start coughing up: Baby teeth may be worth a whole lot more than some spare change under the pillow. They’ve been found to contain a rich supply of stem cells, the powerful precursor cells of … Continue reading →

If scientists want to study ancient DNA, they usually extract it from fossils, the remains of ancient plants and animals. But molecular biologists from the University of Copenhagen found DNA in dirt instead. They drilled cores up to 100 feet … Continue reading →

Sheep may help shed light on why some human births are premature. Researchers have long suspected that a mother’s nutrition plays a key role in gestation length but, until now, a link hadn’t been shown. According to a study in … Continue reading →

Archeologists have discovered the oldest known depiction of a deity found in the Americas, a 4,000-year-old gourd fragment incised with an image of the Staff God, a principal god in the South American pantheon. The Staff God, a fanged, splay-footed … Continue reading →

A study by biologists at Tufts University has found that female fireflies prefer males with longer-lasting flashes. It seems that a longer flash is related to the quality of the “nuptial gift” he can give to his mate, report Sara … Continue reading →

According to meteorologists, typhoons never occur near the equator. Why? Because the Coriolis effect, which gives spin to the wind due to the rotation of the Earth, is weakest there. That spin helps form the violent, swirling, circular wind-driven thunderstorms … Continue reading →