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Army ants in Central and South America aggressively seek out the shortest path over the forest floor to bring home enough food and ensure the future of their colony. This focus on efficiency led the insects to develop a clever trick: They link their bodies together to fill potholes and build living bridges. As more …
by Sara G. Miller ORLANDO, Fla. — People who get at least 8 hours of sleep each night are more likely to have good heart health than those who get less sleep, a new study finds. In the study, researchers compared groups of people who slept for different average lengths of time, looking at how …
by Nicola James Canada’s new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, took office on 4 November — and as one of his first acts, created the post of Minister of Science. Kirsty Duncan, a medical geographer at the University of Toronto in Canada, will be the first to hold the job. Duncan, who contributed to the 2001 …
by Helen Briggs Humans have been exploiting honeybees for almost 9,000 years, according to archaeological evidence. Traces of beeswax found on ancient pottery from Europe, the Near East and North Africa suggest the first farmers kept bees. The research, published in Nature, shows our links with the honeybee date back to the dawn of agriculture. …
By Mary Beth Griggs A lack of snow is bad for skiers, but it’s even worse for our future. Earlier this year, a study found that the snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains was at its lowest level in 500 years, which is bad news for a state deep in drought, but California is hardly …
by James Gallagher Ministers are considering whether homeopathy should be put on a blacklist of treatments GPs in England are banned from prescribing, the BBC has learned. The controversial practice is based on the principle that “like cures like”, but critics say patients are being given useless sugar pills. The Faculty of Homeopathy said patients …
by Mindy Weisberger Rats as big as dachshunds once lived alongside humans — who frequently ate the robust rodents, according to a recent study. Scientists on an expedition to the island nation of East Timor discovered fossils representing seven new species of giant rats, all larger than any species ever found. The biggest of them …
For Immediate Release: November 23, 2015 Paul Fidalgo, CFI Communications Director [email protected] – 207-358-9785 Robyn E. Blumner, RDF President & CEO [email protected] – 202-733-5276 CFI and Dawkins Foundation Urge FTC to Stop Homeopathy’s False Advertising The Center for Inquiry and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science are urging the Federal Trade Commission to …
This is a collection of the 10 best and most popular stories from science and technology over the past 7 days. Click the individual images below to read the stories and follow the This Week in Science on wakelet (here) to get these weekly updates straight to your inbox every Sunday.
Entanglement is one of the strangest phenomena predicted by quantum mechanics, the theory that underlies most of modern physics. It says that two particles can be so inextricably connected that the state of one particle can instantly influence the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are. Just one century ago, entanglement …
If one thing has been learned in the last half century, it’s that sending astronauts into the harsh, unforgiving environment of space is both dangerous and expensive. To find a way to minimize risk and cost, NASA is sending a pair of prototype humanoid robots back to school. The space agency is giving two R5 …
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