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By Paul Rincon Two skulls found in China shed light on the ancient humans who inhabited the region before our own species arrived. We know that Europe and western Asia was dominated by the Neanderthals before Homo sapiens displaced them. But remains belonging to equivalent populations in East and Central Asia have been scarce. It’s …
By Chris Mooney The Trump administrationâs proposal to cut the Environmental Protection Agency is looking dramatic indeed. The plans call for laying off thousands of staff, eliminating entire programs and making deep cuts to the agencyâs research office, the Office of Research and Development (ORD), according to recent reporting by The Washington Post. Thatâs not to say …
By Rachel Ford I donât usually do this, but this is pretty horrifying stuff. So, content warning for rape and child abuse. A Pennsylvania grand jury investigation into the Pennsylvanian Altoona-Johnstown Diocese has wrapped up, and its findings are gut-wrenching: hundreds of children were sexually abused by Church leaders over the course of decades. More …
By Rob Stein Ali Brivanlou slides open a glass door at the Rockefeller University in New York to show off his latest experiments probing the mysteries of the human embryo. “As you can see, all my lab is glass â just to make sure there is nothing that happens in some dark rooms that gives …
By Sarah Kaplan Tiny, tubular structures uncovered in ancient Canadian rocks could be remnants of some of the earliest life on Earth, scientists say. The straw-shaped âmicrofossils,â narrower than the width of a human hair and invisible to the naked eye, are believed to come from ancient microbes, according to a new study in the journal Nature. Scientists debate the …
By Chris Mooney Thereâs no mistaking it now. Even though we donât have the final numbers, it is abundantly clear that the sea ice ringing the Antarctic continent has fallen precipitously â reaching a record low just a few short years after it reached a record high. In 38 years of records dating back to 1979, the sea …
By John Markoff In the coming age of robotics, many of those autonomous machines will be internet-connected and mobile. What could possibly go wrong? Significant security flaws were found in an examination of six home and industrial robots, according to a report to be released Wednesday by IOActive, a computer security consulting firm with headquarters …
By Hemant Mehta Senate Resolution 17 in Indiana passed this week on a 40-9 vote. While resolutions donât always get attention because theyâre usually symbolic in nature, this one is especially pernicious. It reinforces âsupport of teachers who choose to teach a diverse curriculumâ⌠which is a fancy way of saying that teachers who chose …
By Jonathan Amos Elon Musk, it seems, loves nothing more than to spin plates. When most of us might be looking to lighten the load, he’s piling on the ambition. The serial entrepreneur’s latest gambit is to fly people around the Moon. Two wealthy individuals have apparently lodged significant deposits with his SpaceX company to make …
By Helen Briggs A dinosaur that lived 160 million years ago had drumstick-shaped legs much like living birds, according to palaeontologists. The feathered dinosaur also had bird-like arms similar to wings. Scientists used high-powered lasers to reveal invisible details of what the creature looked like. The research could give insights into the origins of flight, …
By Carole Cadwalladr Just over a week ago, Donald Trump gathered members of the worldâs press before him and told them they were liars. âThe press, honestly, is out of control,â he said. âThe public doesnât believe you any more.â CNN was described as âvery fake news⌠story after story is badâ. The BBC was âanother …
By Daniel Burke If you’re a Christian who exploits people, leads a double life or manages a “dirty” business, perhaps it’s better not to call yourself a believer, Pope Francis suggested in a homily on Thursday in Rome. “So many Christians are like this, and these people scandalize others,” Francis said during morning Mass at …