New Research

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Sweet Potato Genes Say Polynesians, Not Europeans, Spread the Tubers Across the Pacific

Sweet potato samples preserved in centuries-old herbariums indicate that Polynesian sailors introduced the yam across Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Two men reenact Roman military life in Split, Croatia.

In Ancient Rome, Children’s Shoes Were a Status Symbol

From a trove of ancient Roman footwear, a rethinking of military life

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We’re Better at Remembering Facebook Statuses Than Book Lines

Turns out, the average person is far more likely to remember a Facebook status than they are a painstakingly edited sentence from a book

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Sea Cows Used To Walk on Land in Africa And Jamaica

Until now, paleontologists have drawn a blank on the evolutionary link between the manatee's African and Jamaican relatives

Mycobacterium leprae, in red.

Leprosy Can Turn Nerve Cells Into Stem Cells

The scourge of biblical times could open up a new way of making stem cells in the lab

Coal-fired stoves are a major source of black carbon.

Black Carbon May Contribute Almost as Much as Carbon Dioxide to Global Warming

Black carbon's role in driving warming is much higher than previously thought

Chimps Have an Innate Sense of Fairness

Human ideals about fairness may not be so human after all

Did ancient Australians witness a similar scene?

Indians Made It to Australia More Than 4,000 Years Before the British

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Scientists Finally Figure Out How Squids Mate

There are all sorts of animals that we actually have never seen get it on. Squid used to be one of them

A female H. floresiensis recreation from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Flores Hobbits Were Sort of Like Humans, Sort of Like Chimps, Sort of Like Tolkien’s Fantasy Beings

Archaeologists are slowly bringing "the Hobbit Human" to light as new bones turn up

Mouse Moms Force Mouse Dads To Care for Their Kids

Female mice have tricks for encouraging the otherwise absentee father of their offspring to care and get involved in child-tending

Apophis is the little dot in the circle.

Earth Escapes Most Dangerous Asteroid (That We Know About)

Once given a 1-in-45 chance of smacking into the Earth, the odds are now effectively zero

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Raccoons Are Getting Brain Cancer From a Previously Unknown Virus

A new cancer-causing virus is affecting U.S. raccoons

A gonorrhea culture

Gonorrhea Mutates Into Treatment-Resistant Superbug

The world may be at the brink of an epidemic of drug-resistent gonorrhea, though simply using condoms could save the day

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Therapeutic Poop Goes Synthetic

The synthetic feces is less icky than the natural variety and is a "super probiotic," aptly named RePOOPulate

Give your future and your coin to Anubis, and you’ll be spared the rigors of hard labor.

In Ancient Egypt, People Paid to Become Temple Servants

Rather than face forced labor, some ancient Egyptians gave up their futures and their coin to become temple servants

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There Goes the Ecosystem: Alien Animals Invade Antarctica

Humanity is well on its way to screwing up Antarctic and the Southern Ocean in addition to the warmer corners of the world

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You Can’t Throw a Rock in the Milky Way Without Hitting an Earth-Like Planet

A new estimate says there are 17 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way

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Physicists Find That “Absolute Zero” May Not Be Quite So Absolute

Using lasers and magnets, a group of physicists pushed potassium atoms to a state colder than absolute zero

Here’s How to Get Attention for Your Research About Hookworms

This research may have a silly title, but it does answer an important question of global significance

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