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 […]

Physicists may soon know if a potential new subatomic particle is something beyond their wildest dreams — or if it exists at all. Hints of the new particle emerged last December at the Large Hadron Collider. Theorists have churned out hundreds of papers attempting to explain the existence of the particle —assuming it’s not a […]

Good gut bacteria might not help people with Crohn’s disease. Protective microbial messages go unread in mice and in human immune cells with certain defective genes, researchers report online May 5 in Science. The findings are the first to tie together the roles of genes and beneficial microbes in the inflammatory bowel disease, says biologist […]