How Flounder Wound Up With an Epic Side-Eye NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 21 June 2024 at 05:01 Flatfish offer an evolutionary puzzle: How did one eye gradually migrate to the other side?
How Our Brain Produces Language and Thought, According to Neuroscientists NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 19 June 2024 at 16:43 A group of neuroscientists argue that our words are primarily for communicating, not for reasoning. Β© via Evelina FedorenkoA network of regions become active when the brain retrieves words from memory, use rules of grammar, and carries out other language tasks.
Was This Sea Creature Our Ancestor? Scientists Turn a Famous Fossil on Its Head. NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 17 June 2024 at 11:25 Researchers have long assumed that a tube in the famous Pikaia fossil ran along the animalβs back. But a new study turned the fossil upside down. Β© Mussini et al., Current Biology 2024The fossil of Pikaia, a creature that lived 508 million years ago and may have been a close relative of vertebrates.
Scientists Find the Largest Known Genome Inside a Small Plant NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 31 May 2024 at 11:00 A fern from a Pacific island carries 50 times as much DNA as humans do.
Scientists Calculated the Energy Needed to Carry a Baby. Shocker: Itβs a Lot. NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 16 May 2024 at 14:00 In humans, the energetic cost of pregnancy is about 50,000 dietary calories β far higher than previously believed, a new study found. Β© Dr. G. Moscoso/Science SourceResearchers estimate that a human pregnancy demands almost 50,000 dietary calories over nine months, the equivalent of about 50 pints of ice cream.
Why Do People Make Music? NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 15 May 2024 at 14:00 In a new study, researchers found universal features of songs across many cultures, suggesting that music evolved in our distant ancestors.
U.S. Tightens Rules on Risky Virus Research NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer and Benjamin Mueller 7 May 2024 at 11:42 A long-awaited new policy broadens the type of regulated viruses, bacteria, fungi and toxins, including those that could threaten crops and livestock. Β© Karen Ducey/Getty ImagesWorking inside a biosafety Level 3 lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2020.
Scientists Find an βAlphabetβ in Whale Songs NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 7 May 2024 at 11:00 Sperm whales rattle off pulses of clicks while swimming together, raising the possibility that theyβre communicating in a complex language.
What Makes a Society More Resilient? Frequent Hardship. NYT: Science By: Carl Zimmer 1 May 2024 at 11:00 Comparing 30,000 years of human history, researchers found that surviving famine, war or climate change helps groups recover more quickly from future shocks. Β© Wirestock, Inc., via AlamyThe city of Caral thrived in Peru between about 5,000 and 3,800 years ago. It was then abandoned for centuries before being briefly reoccupied.