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Scientists Find the Largest Known Genome Inside a Small Plant
31 May 2024 at 11:00
A fern from a Pacific island carries 50 times as much DNA as humans do.
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Yesterday — 31 May 2024Main stream
From 700 A.D., a Pre-Viking Vessel Rises into View
31 May 2024 at 02:00
On the Norwegian island of Leka, archaeologists have unearthed the earliest known ship burial in Scandinavia.
Before yesterdayMain stream
Bird Flu Has Infected a Third U.S. Farmworker
30 May 2024 at 15:45
The worker had respiratory symptoms, unlike the first two. But the risk to the public remains low, federal health officials said.
A dairy farm in Colorado in 2019.
© Aaron Ontiveroz for The New York Times
Unconventional Sex Let Anglerfish Conquer the Deep Ocean
30 May 2024 at 05:04
During a chaotic period some 50 million years ago, the strange deep-sea creatures left the ocean bottom and thrived by clamping onto their mates.
The Textbooks Were Wrong About How Your Tongue Works
29 May 2024 at 11:08
The perception of taste is remarkably complex, not only on the tongue but in organs throughout the body.
The taste bud diagram, used in many textbooks over the years, originated in a 1901 study but was actually showing the sensitivity of different areas of the tongue.
© Alamy
Apex, the Largest Stegosaurus Fossil Ever Found, Heads to Auction
29 May 2024 at 09:00
The specimen, found by the paleontologist Jason Cooper, could be auctioned for millions of dollars by Sotheby’s.
© Nina Riggio for The New York Times
Ancient Skull With Brain Cancer Preserves Clues to Egyptian Medicine
29 May 2024 at 00:01
Cuts in the cranium, which is more than 4,000 years old, hint that people in the ancient civilization attempted to treat a scourge that persists today.
Health Officials Tried to Evade Public Records Laws, Lawmakers Say
28 May 2024 at 19:09
N.I.H. officials suggested federal record keepers helped them hide emails. If so, “that’s really damaging to trust in all of government,” one expert said.
Dr. David Morens, a former adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking before the House subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic on May 22.
© Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
How the Tree Lobster Escaped Extinction
28 May 2024 at 00:01
The Lord Howe Island stick insect vanished from its home, but an effort at zoos in San Diego and Melbourne highlights the possibilities and challenges of conserving invertebrate animals.
© John Francis Peters for The New York Times
Inside the Factory Supplying Half of Africa’s Syringes
27 May 2024 at 05:00
In Kenya, Revital Healthcare is manufacturing medical products that Africa needs to take charge of routine health care and respond to outbreaks.
© Brian Otieno for The New York Times
Countries Fail to Agree on Treaty to Prepare the World for the Next Pandemic
24 May 2024 at 13:57
Negotiators plan to ask for more time. Among the sticking points are equitable access to vaccines and financing to set up surveillance systems.
Last year’s World Health Assembly in Geneva. Member countries have failed to reach their goal of finalizing a pandemic treaty before this year’s session begins on Monday.
© Denis Balibouse/Reuters
Beef Tissue from Sick Cow Tests Positive for Bird Flu Virus
24 May 2024 at 13:39
Muscle from a sick dairy cow tested positive for the virus. The meat did not enter the commercial food supply, which officials said remained safe.
© Aaron Josefczyk/Reuters
Milk Containing Bird-Flu Virus Can Sicken Mice, Study Finds
24 May 2024 at 10:40
The results bolster evidence that virus-laden raw milk may be unsafe for humans.
Bottles of raw milk are displayed for sale at a store in Temecula, Calif.
© Jonel Aleccia/Associated Press
Fate of Retired Research Chimps Still in Limbo
23 May 2024 at 05:03
The National Institutes of Health, which owns the chimps at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico, has no plans to move the animals to sanctuary, despite a ruling from a federal judge.
Carlee, a chimpanzee living in Chimp Haven, a 200-acre sanctuary in Louisiana that serves as the designated retirement home for federally owned chimps.
© Emil Lippe for The New York Times
Abortion Pills May Become Controlled Substances in Louisiana
22 May 2024 at 21:57
A bill that is expected to pass would impose prison time and thousands of dollars in fines on people possessing the pills without a prescription.
Mifepristone, one of the two abortion medications that Louisiana lawmakers want to reclassify as harmful controlled substances.
© Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
A Second Dairy Worker Has Contracted Bird Flu, C.D.C. Reports
22 May 2024 at 22:46
The new case, in a Michigan farmworker, did not suggest that bird flu was widespread in people, health officials said, adding that the risk to the general public remained low.
An electron microscope image of an avian flu virion.
© Jackie Katz Cynthia Goldsmith/CDC, via Associated Press
In the House of Psychiatry, a Jarring Tale of Violence
21 May 2024 at 07:04
At the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, a patient described a restraint that haunts him, more than eight years later.
Matthew Tuleja, a former college football player, hopes that sharing his story will help reduce the use of restraints in psychiatry.
© Diana Cervantes for The New York Times
Supernova or Coronavirus: Can You Tell the Difference?
21 May 2024 at 05:00
A scientist finds beauty in the “visual synonyms” that exist in images seen through microscopes and telescopes.
The Disease Detectives Trying to Keep the World Safe From Bird Flu
20 May 2024 at 22:00
When a child in a small Cambodian town fell sick recently, his rapid decline set off a global disease surveillance system.
Members of a team from Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture took a swab from a duck during surveillance of the poultry section of the Orussey market in Phnom Penh this month.
How the Cockroach Took Over the World
20 May 2024 at 15:00
A genetic analysis of the German cockroach explained its rise in southern Asia millenniums ago, and how it eventually turned up in your kitchen.
A genomic analysis of 281 cockroaches collected from 17 countries around the world suggests that Blattella germanica, the German cockroach, originated in India or Myanmar around 2,100 years ago.
© Erik Karits/Alamy
Does Legalizing Cannabis Increase Adolescent Use?
20 May 2024 at 12:15
Contrary to expectation, a major study found that weed use among minors was lower in states where the drug was legal.
Rebekah Levine Coley, professor of developmental and educational psychology at Boston College.
© Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times
Legalized Weed is Landing More Seniors in the E.R.
20 May 2024 at 11:20
In Canada, cannabis poisonings rose sharply among people 65 and older after the country legalized the drug, a new study found.
Edible marijuana samples at a cannabis testing laboratory in Santa Ana, Calif.
© Chris Carlson/Associated Press
Farm Animals Are Hauled All Over the Country. So Are Their Pathogens.
20 May 2024 at 08:27
Tens of millions of farm animals cross state lines every year, traveling in cramped, stressful conditions that can facilitate the spread of disease.
The exact number of chickens, cows and pigs being transported on trucks, ships, planes and trains within the United States is difficult to pinpoint because there is no national system for tracking the movement of livestock.
© Rory Doyle for The New York Times
When an Eel Takes a Bite Then an Octopus Might Claim an Eyeball
17 May 2024 at 17:43
Videos filmed by divers show that choking, blinding and sacrificing limbs are all in the cephalopods’ repertoire.
C.D.C. Warns of a Resurgence of Mpox
16 May 2024 at 14:53
A deadlier version of the infectious disease is ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo, while the type that caused a 2022 outbreak among gay and bisexual men is regaining strength.
A health official investigating and treating a probable case of mpox at the Yalolia health center in Tshopo, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2022.
© Arlette Bashizi/Reuters
Scientists Calculated the Energy Needed to Carry a Baby. Shocker: It’s a Lot.
16 May 2024 at 14:00
In humans, the energetic cost of pregnancy is about 50,000 dietary calories — far higher than previously believed, a new study found.
Researchers estimate that a human pregnancy demands almost 50,000 dietary calories over nine months, the equivalent of about 50 pints of ice cream.
© Dr. G. Moscoso/Science Source
The Itsy Bitsy Spider Inspired a Microphone
16 May 2024 at 10:00
If spiders use their webs like a large external eardrum, researchers reasoned, perhaps spider silk could be the basis for a powerful listening device.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider Inspired a Microphone
16 May 2024 at 10:00
If spiders use their webs like a large external eardrum, researchers reasoned, perhaps spider silk could be the basis for a powerful listening device.
Why Do People Make Music?
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.
Overdose Deaths Dropped in U.S. in 2023 for First Time in Five Years
15 May 2024 at 11:40
Preliminary numbers show a nearly 4 percent decrease in deaths from opioids, largely fentanyl, but a rise in deaths from meth and cocaine.
Empty cartridges of Kloxxado, a naloxone nasal spray that is twice as concentrated as Narcan, lay on the street after being used to revive a man in Portland, Ore., last year.
© Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Baobab Trees Had a Strange Evolutionary Journey
15 May 2024 at 11:00
New research shows the “upside-down trees” originated in Madagascar and then caught a ride on ocean currents to reach mainland Africa and Australia.
The “Avenue of the Baobabs,” a natural reserve of Grandidier’s baobabs near Morondava, Madagascar.
© Baz Ratner/Reuters
Emma Seppälä Has Thoughts on How to Avoid Kneejerk Decisions
15 May 2024 at 05:00
The psychologist studies how to recognize emotions and cope with them. She learned the hard way.
© Jillian Freyer for The New York Times
Fossil Catches Starfish Cousin in the Act of Cloning Itself
14 May 2024 at 19:14
The brittle star specimen suggests that the sea creatures have been splitting themselves in two to reproduce for more than 150 million years.
Alarmed by Climate Change, Astronomers Train Their Sights on Earth
14 May 2024 at 03:00
A growing number of researchers in the field are using their expertise to fight the climate crisis.
Penny Sackett, former director of the Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory, just outside Canberra, in the remains of the observatory, which was destroyed in a 2003 wildfire.
© David Maurice Smith for The New York Times
‘Failure to Thrive,’ or a Failure to Look?
13 May 2024 at 05:02
An outdated medical term often masks treatable illnesses, health experts contend.
© Sol Cotti
Can Parrots Converse? Polly Says That’s the Wrong Question.
12 May 2024 at 05:03
In a cautious new paper, scientists tried to determine whether an interactive speech board might enrich the life of a parrot named Ellie.
A New Evolutionary Tree of Flowers? For Spring? Groundbreaking.
11 May 2024 at 05:03
By sequencing an enormous amount of data, a group of hundreds of researchers has gained new insights into how flowers evolved on Earth.
A new, time-calibrated phylogenetic tree for angiosperms based on 353 nuclear genes.
© Baker et al., Nature 2024
From Ancient Charcoal, Hints of Wildfires to Come
10 May 2024 at 10:52
By digging into the geologic record, scientists are learning how wildfires shaped — and were shaped by — climate change long ago.
Tuna Crabs, Neither Tuna Nor Crabs, Are Swarming Near San Diego
9 May 2024 at 12:44
Divers and marine biologists are getting a window into the lives of a red crustacean most often found in the guts of other species.
Brazil’s National Museum Receives Massive Fossil Donation
9 May 2024 at 15:57
A gift from abroad of more than 1,100 Brazilian fossils aims to step up efforts to rebuild the country’s National Museum, which suffered major fire damage in 2018.
Why You Can Hear the Temperature of Water
9 May 2024 at 07:00
A science video maker in China couldn’t find a good explanation for why hot and cold water sound different, so he did his own research and published it.
Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds
8 May 2024 at 11:31
Biodiversity loss, global warming, pollution and the spread of invasive species are making infectious diseases more dangerous to organisms around the world.
White-footed mice, the primary reservoir for Lyme disease, have become more dominant in the U.S. as other rarer mammals have disappeared, one potential explanation for rising disease rates.
© Bill Draker/Rolf Nussbaumer Photography, via Alamy
A Cicada’s Guide to Periodical Romance
8 May 2024 at 07:23
It may sound like a mosh pit out there. But to the participants, mating is a delicate, sonorous affair, fraught with potential missteps — and fungal zombies.
© Rudy Gutierrez
When These Snakes Play Dead, Soiling Themselves Is Part of the Act
7 May 2024 at 19:01
Dice snakes found on an island in southeastern Europe fully commit themselves to the role of ex-reptile.
U.S. Tightens Rules on Risky Virus Research
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.
Working inside a biosafety Level 3 lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2020.
© Karen Ducey/Getty Images
Scientists Find an ‘Alphabet’ in Whale Songs
7 May 2024 at 11:00
Sperm whales rattle off pulses of clicks while swimming together, raising the possibility that they’re communicating in a complex language.
Study Suggests Genetics as a Cause, Not Just a Risk, for Some Alzheimer’s
6 May 2024 at 12:19
People with two copies of the gene variant APOE4 are almost certain to get Alzheimer’s, say researchers, who proposed a framework under which such patients could be diagnosed years before symptoms.
A C.T. scan of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease.
© Vsevolod Zviryk/Science Source
How To Know When a Good Dog Has Gone Bad
5 May 2024 at 20:15
Gov. Kristi Noem suggested that President Biden should have euthanized the family dog, as she did. Animal experts said that such an option should be a last resort.
President Biden’s dog, Commander, a German shepherd, being walked outside the West Wing of the White House last year.
© Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
Was the Stone Age Really the Wood Age?
4 May 2024 at 03:00
Neanderthals were even better craftsmen than thought, a new analysis of 300,000-year-old wooden tools has revealed.
