Xi'an police in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Monday denied online rumors claiming that residents who drive Japanese-made cars have been stopped and their cars smashed, following Japan's irresponsible approach to dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater in the ocean. Online rumors claimed that a resident was stopped and threatened by others, before his Japanese-made car was deliberately […]

Orders for nuclear radiation detectors have surged on domestic e-commerce platforms, with many stores claiming to have sold out, the Global Times learned from industry insiders. Concerns have mounted following the news of Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea. Several online vendors reached by the Global Times on Monday said that their products […]

Beyond the small mining town of Newman in Western Australia lie the first fairy circles scientists have described outside of Africa. These patches of bare soil dot outback grasslands in almost regular polka-dot patterns, just like the puzzling circle landscapes known from Namibia, says ecologist Stephan Getzin of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research-UFZ in […]

The prime suspect in Brazil’s recent surge in birth defects may be convicted this summer, in the sweltering cities of Colombia. That’s when the first big wave of pregnant women infected with Zika virus last fall will begin to give birth. Whether or not these babies are born with shrunken brains, a condition known as […]

For many cloud-forming water droplets, it’s what’s on the outside that matters. By making their own clouds, scientists have discovered a new way that fat water droplets take shape. Carbon-containing molecules envelop the exterior of developing droplets and reduce surface tension, thereby allowing more water to condense onto the drop. This effect results in droplets […]

A 305-million-year-old arachnid might shed some light on spider evolution. Researchers discovered the fossilized remains of Idmonarachne brasieri curled up in ironstone from central France. The legs, mouthparts and body of the 1-centimeter-long arachnid were all spiderlike. But the ancient arthropod was missing a key feature of all true spiders: silk-spinning organs. I. brasieri also […]

Family ties last 430 million years — at least for one newly discovered arthropod species. Researchers discovered the fossilized remains of Aquilonifer spinosus encased in carbonate from a formation called the Herefordshire Lagerstätte in England. Shields covered the 9.5-millimeter arthropod from head to tail, and long spines protruded from its armor. But that’s not all: […]

A DNA-damaging protein in typhoid bacteria might keep infected animals alive and provide a safe haven for the microbes. Typhoid toxin, a protein produced by the typhoid fever-causing bacterium Salmonella enterica Typhi, tears DNA molecules apart. But the protein actually prolonged survival and reduced gut inflammation in mice infected with S. enterica, an international team […]

ATLANTA — Iceland’s “woman in blue,” the partial skeleton of a young woman found in 1938 in a grave with Viking-era objects, was a child of some of the island’s earliest settlers, researchers reported April 14 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Tooth development and wear suggest she was between […]

The grunts, moans and wobbles of gelada monkeys, a chatty species residing in Ethiopia’s northern highlands, observe a universal mathematical principle seen until now only in human language. The new research, published online April 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds light on the evolution of primate communication and complex human […]