Research News

One doctor's account of the personality shift in Phineas Gage following the accident.

Why Brain Scientists Are Still Obsessed With The Curious Case Of Phineas Gage

5:00am May 21, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

In 1848, a railroad worker survived an accident that drove a 13-pound iron bar through his head. The injury changed his personality, and our understanding of the brain.

A scientist holds a bioprosthetic mouse ovary made of gelatin with tweezers.

Scientists One Step Closer To 3-D-Printed Ovaries To Treat Infertility

10:38am May 20, 2017

by Rob Stein

Researchers printed gelatin scaffolds into which they placed ovarian tissue, and then implanted the new organs in mice. Three out of seven female mice produced healthy offspring using the technology.

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A plasticine caterpillar glistens with moisture while awaiting potential predator attacks in the forest of Tai Po Kau, Hong Kong.

Scientists Glued Fake Caterpillars On Plants Worldwide. Here's What Happened

8:49pm May 18, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Predators that attacked the clay caterpillars left telltale bite marks, which were later analyzed to help figure the critter's risk of getting eaten. That analysis revealed a striking pattern.

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Workers prepare to release thousands of fingerling Chinook salmon into the Mare Island Strait in Vallejo, Calif., in 2014. A new report names climate change, dams and agriculture as the major threats to the prized and iconic fish, which is still the core

Many Of California's Salmon Populations Unlikely To Survive The Century

7:08pm May 17, 2017

by Alastair Bland

Climate change, dams and agriculture are threatening Chinook salmon, the iconic fish at the core of the state's fishing industry, a report predicts. And 23 other fish species are also at risk.

Rare snail Jeremy with the offspring of its two former suitors.

Tragic Love Triangle Is Sad For Lonely Rare Snail, Still Good For Science

5:12pm May 17, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

A garden snail with a rare genetic condition can't mate with normal snails; scientists launch an international search for a mate; two possible mates are found. But they mate with each other instead.

An orangutan mother and her 11-month old infant in Borneo. Orangutans breast-feed offspring off and on for up to eight years.

Orangutan Moms Are The Primate Champs Of Breast-Feeding

3:40pm May 17, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

Orangutans breast-feed up to nine years, longer than any other primate. That may help offspring survive food shortages. But humans may have gained a survival advantage from weaning earlier.

Tyrannosaurus rex jaws generated 8,000-pound bite forces and let the creature eat everything from duck-billed dinosaurs to triceratops.

Science

Tyrannosaurus Rex's Bite Force Measured 8,000 Pounds, Scientists Say

7:38am May 17, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

"That's like setting three small cars on top of the jaws of a T. rex — that's basically what was pushing down," a researcher says. Humans bite with a measly 200 pounds of force.

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Science

Advice For Your Dinner Party Stories: Keep It Familiar

7:38am May 17, 2017

by Shankar Vedantam

There's a difference between the stories we tell and the stories we like to hear. New social science research finds most of us like to listen to stories about familiar things.

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Racial and ethnic disparities persist in sudden unexplained infant deaths.

Racial And Ethnic Disparities Persist In Sudden Infant Deaths

10:52am May 15, 2017

by Katherine Hobson

Babies in Native American and Alaska Native families are at higher risk of sudden unexplained infant death, despite years of effort to reduce the toll. African-American families also face higher risk.

Science

Scientists Raise Concern By Wanting To Create Synthetic Human Genomes

7:57am May 14, 2017

In New York, hundreds of scientists discussed a highly ambitious and controversial project. They want to create synthetic genetic codes for all kinds of creatures — including the human genetic code.