Caltech astronomer Mike Brown, the driving force for demoting Pluto, now claims evidence for a massive, distant replacement ninth planet in our solar system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sharks that could smell headed straight back home when taken a few miles away whereas some that had their senses of smell blocked took slower, more erratic paths to their old haunts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers found a spike in mercury, which is produced by volcanoes, in ancient ocean sediments from southern France that span the time of the dinosaurs' mass extinction, lending support to the idea that massive eruptions played a role, in addition to the asteroid impact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
At a Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health forum on diet and health, Walter Willett, chair of the school's nutrition department, said that adoption of more healthful eating habits even late in life still has benefits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sophisticated computational techniques make it possible to analyze gene samples from all the bacteria in the gut at once to take a census of the species present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When food is plentiful and chimps are more chummy, they harbor an increased number of different bacterial species in their bellies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The remains of a clearly butchered woolly mammoth in Siberia date to 45,000 years ago, 10 millennia earlier than when humans were thought to have crossed north of the Arctic circle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More members of an urban swan population that lets humans get near have a particular genetic variant than do a rural swan group that tends to take off when humans approach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hippos eat meat more than had been thought, a practice that could explain their susceptibility to anthrax die-offs when they consume infected animals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Some set of numbers will definitely be drawn in the $1.3-billion Powerball Lottery, so all you have to do is make sure you hold every possible combination of numbers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers were able to determine the genome of stomach bacteria that infected the famous Iceman at the time of his death, in the process giving us clues about ancient human migrations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Many non-African humans today have genes—which apparently made it into us via Neandertals—that ramp up resistance to pathogens, but bring on allergies, too. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More than a quarter century after the federal funding ban on needle exchange programs went into effect, it has quietly been almost completely lifted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In his announcement today that he was taking executive action to require more gun sellers to be licensed and to do background checks on gun buyers, Pres. Barack Obama also touched on the problems facing public health researchers who try to study gun violence and deaths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The numbers of large carnivores, especially leopards, are increasing in private lands and lands outside the protected-area systems in India, bringing new challenges for coexistence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers engineered bitumen—the sticky black stuff in asphalt—to release its own salt, to battle the formation of ice. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Twelve alcohol brands among the top 25 preferred brands for teen black drinkers don’t appear at all on the top 25 for young white drinkers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Almost all southern right whale calves off the coast of Argentina’s Peninsula Valdez are being fed upon, some fatally, by kelp gulls, which was a rare occurrence four decades ago Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thinner sea ice is getting pushed farther by Arctic winds, which makes polar bears walk more to stay in the same place, increasing their need for food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Using climate models and tree physiological data, researchers forecast a near-complete annihilation of evergreens in the southwest by the year 2100. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers designed a chip that transfers data not with electrons but with photons—resulting in a potential 10-fold boost in speed. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Heavy drinkers age 18 to 25 who got texts before and after each weekend about their weekend drinking plans cut their alcohol intake compared with those who got no texts or more perfunctory texts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A compound found in extra virgin olive oil and red wine reduced mice’s risk of clogged arteries. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nicholas Matzke, an American evolutionary biologist currently at the Australian National University in Canberra, performed a phylogenetic-style analysis of dozens of antievolution education bills in various state legislatures to track their relatedness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Stickleback fish in Alaska evolved from living in seawater to freshwater in just 50 years, with the help of freshwater traits in their genome. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Marion Nestle, author of Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) , talked December 14 in New York City about Coca-Cola's attempt to fund research designed to find sugared soft drinks innocent in contributing to obesity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In a study of first graders, teachers rated low-performing minority students more positively than low-performing white students, but they ranked high-performing minority students lower than white students at the same level Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A brief portion of the December 9 conversation during the climate talks in France between Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Scientific American ’s David Biello Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Roaches get the signal to gather together from pheromones produced by their gut microbes and released in the insects’ excrement. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Among its goals, the coalition of countries, including the U.S., wants an agreement that the world must aim as soon as possible to hold global warming to 1.5-degree Celsius and work toward a long-term low-carbon future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
