Ancient Antibiotic Resistance

Researchers have found antibiotic-resistant genes in samples of 30,000-year-old bacterial DNA, demonstrating that such resistance is a natural phenomenon and predates modern medical antibiotic use.

Feather Evolution in Amber

Analysis of prehistoric feathers trapped in 80-million-year-old Canadian amber deposits have provided the most comprehensive details about the evolution of feathers in dinosaurs and birds yet known.

Middle East Geolyphs

New aerial and satellite mapping technologies have provided views of giant geolyph structures of various designs constructed on the ground in the Middle East from Syria to Saudi Arabia, most largely unexcavated but believed to be at least 2000 years old.

Ocean Floor Communication

For the first time, researchers have recorded "rumbles" and frequencies beyond the range of human hearing of creatures such as mantis shrimp that live on the sea floor at depth, a largely unexplored field of benthic acoustics implying communications similar to a chorus of birds or frogs.

Premature Brains and Touch

Researchers have found that a human fetus' sense of touch develops during the last stages of pregnancy, with the premature infant's brain able to distinguish between pain and touch only within the last two weeks before birth.

Potatoes and Blood Pressure

Researchers have found that purple potatoes can reduce blood pressure in patients with high blood pressure due to natural phytochemicals with effects similar to those of prescribed ACE-inhibitor medications.

New Human Ancestor

New hominid fossils (Australopithecus sediba) discovered in a South African cave may be the common ancestor of archaic and modern humans, replacing Homo habilis as the bridge between the australopithecene and human lines.

Impossible Star Composition

Astronomers have discovered a star (SDSS J102915+172927) located in the Milky Way with a composition of almost entirely hydrogen and helium with remarkably small amounts of heavier elements, placing it within a "forbidden zone" of star formation as currently understood.

Haploid Cells Created

Researchers have created mammalian stem cells from an unfertilized egg that contain only half the normal number of chromosomes (haploid), the first such accomplishment for a mammalian species and providing a powerful new genetics research tool.

See-Through Mouse Brains

Researchers have developed a chemical named Scale (a mixture of urea, glycerol and a detergent named Triton-X) that turns body tissue transparent and does not wash away fluorescent markers, prodiving a novel new tool for medical imaging.

Tiny Molecular Motor

Researchers have produced electrically driven motion from an atom of asymmetric butyl methyl sulphide, spinning about an anchor while a needle tip supplies a current, with its 1-nm rotation making it the smallest motor ever produced.

Roman Gladiator School

The ruins of a Roman gladiator complex in Carnuntum, Austria, have been mapped by aerial radar, revealing a well-preserved 10-square-kilometer site under the modern city that rivals the scale and detail of the Ludus Magnus, the largest gladiator school in Rome.

New Species Found in Market

A species of shark new to science (Squalus formosus) was recently discovered accidentally in the Tashi Fish Market in Taiwan, most likely caught in nets prepared for other commercial fish.

Earliest Advanced Tools Found

Stone tools used by Homo erectus found at a site near Lake Turkana in Kenya have been dated to 1.76 million years ago, the earliest evidence of toolmaking yet found.

Giant Claw Cools Crabs

New research has shown that the enlarged claw of male fiddler crabs (Uca panacea) plays a role in thermoregulation as well as mating displays, acting as a natural heat sink for the animal.

Sutureless Blood Vessels

Researchers have developed a new sutureless method of joining tiny blood vessels by using a poloxamer substance that is solid at higher than body temperatures but dissolves at cooler temperatures, allowing the ends of vessels even 0.2 mm wide to be attached using a common surgical sealant.

Electrically Charged Ice

Researchers have found that when cooled to extreme temperatures such as 60 K, the normally unordered polar molecules of ordinary water ice (type Ih) align and create distinct regions of electrical charges (type XI), a change in ice's physical properties with implications for models of planetary formation.

New Species of Monkey

A new species of primate, as yet unnamed but of the Callicebus genus that includes the titi monkey, was recently discovered in the Mato Grosso State, one of the last unexplored areas of Brazil.

Underground Amazon River

Scientists have discovered an underground river 4000 meters beneath the Amazon River of South America (named Hamza) that also flows from west to east, and may be responsible for the lower salinity at the mouth of the Amazon.

Earliest Placental Mammal Found

A newly discovered fossil from China of a 160 million-year-old shrew-like animal (Juramaia sinensis) provides the earliest example of a eutherian (placental mammals) as opposed to a metatherian (marsupials), pushing back the date at which these two groups diverged.

Majority of Species Unknown

A new study estimates the number of individual species of life found on Earth at 8.7 million, which means with 1.2 million species catalogued that about 86% of species are presently unknown to science and risk extinction before ever being recorded.

Power from Human Gait

Engineers have developed energy-harvesting technology called "reverse electrowetting" to capture the natural energy of human motion and use that power to charge and run personal electronic devices.

Coolest Stars Discovered

NASA's WISE telescope has discovered the coolest class of stars yet known, brown dwarfs denoted as "Y" dwarfs that are failed stars with surface temperatures as low as human body temperatures.

Drug Kills Multiple Viruses

A new drug named DRACO has been developed that can destroy numerous strains of viruses that infect mammalian cells, the first time a single drug has been effective against a range of viruses.

Common Cause of ALS

Researchers have discovered a common cause of all forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease: a malfunctioning protein recycling system in the neurons of the brain and spinal cord that provides a common target for drug therapy.

Elephant Using Stool

A young Asian elephant in a Washington, D.C. zoo used nearby objects as stepstools to retrieve food in a behavioral study, providing the first evidence elephants can run extensive problem-solving scenarios and map out effective solutions in their heads.

World's Oldest Fossil

Researchers have discovered what they believe to be the oldest fossil evidence of life yet found, 3.4 million-year-old microfossils of single-celled organisms found in a sandstone formation in Strelley Pool, Western Australia.