Here’s how magnetic fields shape desert ants’ brains
For desert ants, Earth’s magnetic field isn’t just a compass: It may also sculpt their brains. Stepping outside their nest…
Earth’s oldest known earthquake was probably triggered by plate tectonics
Scientists studying rocks in South Africa report evidence for the earliest known earthquake triggered by plate tectonics. The temblor struck more…
Climate change is changing how we keep time
Climate change may be making it harder to know exactly what time it is. The rapid melting of the ice…
A teeny device can measure subtle shifts in Earth’s gravitational field
There’s a new entrant in the competition to develop ever-tinier instruments that can detect changes in our planet’s gravitational field…
An extinct sofa-sized turtle may have lived alongside humans
As little as 9,000 years ago, a sofa-sized turtle paddled around the Brazilian Amazon. The finding, based on a fossilized…
By fluttering its wings, this bird uses body language to tell its mate ‘after you’
Be it an arched eyebrow, a shaken head or a raised finger, humans wordlessly communicate complex ideas through gestures every…
AI learned how to sway humans by watching a cooperative cooking game
If you’ve ever cooked a complex meal with someone, you know the level of coordination required. Someone dices this, someone…
Dogs know words for their favorite toys
Dogs may know more than they let on. Pet dogs’ brains displayed neural signs of surprise when their owners showed…
These are the chemicals that give teens pungent body odor
Puberty changes just about everything. Bodies get taller, muscles get stronger — and often, body odor becomes more pungent. Now,…
Timbre can affect what harmony is music to our ears
The mathematical rules for creating musical harmony may be more malleable than thought. Western music theory traditionally holds that chords…
