Research News

This model of a molar shows color-coded barium banding patterns that reveal weaning age.

Scientific Tooth Fairies Investigate Neanderthal Breast-Feeding

12:54pm May 24, 2013

by Adam Cole

Our closest relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, breast-feed their offspring for several years. Some baby orangutans nurse until they are 7 years old. Researchers found a way to test ancient teeth for clues about when humans cut nursing short.

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Fungi (cyan) surround a human hair within the skin. A study in the journal Nature shows the population of fungi on human skin is more diverse that previously thought.

Research Reveals Yeasty Beasts Living On Our Skin

11:20am May 24, 2013

by Rob Stein

While studying microorganisms on humans is not new, tracking fungi is. In a census of sorts, scientists checked the skin of healthy volunteers. They found an expansive ecosystem of silent inhabitants.

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The origin of itch has confounded scientists for decades.

Why You Have To Scratch That Itch

11:20am May 24, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

Itch can be a useful warning sign, or a maddening symptom with no cure. But the origins of itch have long been a mystery. Scientists think they've come closer to understanding the origins of itch in a molecule that makes mice scratch like mad.

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Google and NASA are betting that quantum forces are at work inside D-Wave's 512-bit chip.

Quantum Or Not, New Supercomputer Is Certainly Something Else

11:33am May 22, 2013

by Geoff Brumfiel

NASA and Google have come together to buy a new kind of computer that the manufacturer says runs on the strange laws of quantum mechanics. But some physicists counter that the machine, known as the D-Wave Two, has never demonstrated a phenomenon known as "quantum entanglement."

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Oliver Sacks: Hallucinations

3:11pm May 21, 2013

In his latest book Hallucinations, neurologist Oliver Sacks collects stories of individuals who can see, hear and smell things that aren't really there--such as strange voices, or collages of unrecognizable faces--and explores the disorders and drugs that can produce such illusions. This interview was originally broadcast on November 9, 2012.

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Researchers Report Cloning Advance For Producing Stem Cells

11:23am May 17, 2013

Scientists reported this week in the journal Cell that they had used somatic cell nuclear transfer techniques to create a source of embryonic stem cells from the skin cells of a patient. George Daley, director of the stem cell transplantation program at Boston Children's Hospital, and Josephine Johnston of the Hastings Center discuss the research.

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A scientist removes the nucleus from a human egg using a pipette. This is the first step to making personalized embryonic stem cells.

Scientists Clone Human Embryos To Make Stem Cells

11:57am May 16, 2013

The achievement is a long-sought step toward harnessing the potential power of such cells to treat diseases. But the discovery raises ethical concerns because it brings researchers closer to cloning humans.

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This map, from the United States Geological Survey, shows the age of bedrock in different regions of North America. Scientists found ancient water in bedrock north of Lake Superior. This region, colored red, was formed more than 2.5 billion years ago.

Water Trapped For 1.5 Billion Years Could Hold Ancient Life

9:25am May 16, 2013

by Adam Cole

Scientists have discovered water that was sealed in Canadian bedrock for nearly half of Earth's history. It may contain the descendants of ancient microbes. The discovery could give scientists new insights into early life on Earth and inform the search for life on other planets.

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Crew members unload a catch of sockeye salmon at Craig, Alaska, in 2005. Researchers say fish are being found in new areas because of changing ocean temperatures.

Go Fish (Somewhere Else): Warming Oceans Are Altering Catches

7:39pm May 15, 2013

by Richard Harris

Fish are moving away from the equator and toward the poles to maintain their preferred water temperature. That means, for example, that fishermen are seeing swordfish normally found in the Mediterranean swimming near Denmark. But in the tropics, there are no fish to replace the ones that are leaving.

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Bly Straub, the lead curator of the Jamestown artifacts, stands in a private storage and display room on Jamestown Island. Straub has traced the history of the artifacts to all parts of the world.

With Rising Seas, America's Birthplace Could Disappear

7:15pm May 14, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

By the end of the century, ocean levels could rise by 2 or 3 feet. That's enough to flood the colonists' first settlement at Jamestown, Va. And it's putting pressure on archaeologists to get as many artifacts out of the ground as quickly as possible — before it's too late.

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