Site index

This is a chronological list of all the articles on this site.

 

February 2008

#191 - 20/02/08 - Tiny molecules drove the evolution of the vertebrates

#190 - 17/02/08 - Testing, not studying, makes for strong long-term memories

#189 - 15/02/08 - Earliest bat shows flight developed before echolocation

#188 - 13/02/08 - Third cousin couples have the most children and grandchildren

#187 - 02/02/08 - New languages evolve in rapid bursts

 

January 2008

#186 - 30/01/08 - Malawi cichlids - how aggressive males create diversity

#185 - 29/01/08 - Colour-changing chameleons evolved to stand out, not blend in

#184 - 26/01/08 - Averaging photos creates infallible face recognition tool

#183 - 24/01/08 - Blind cavefish not so blind

#182 - 21/01/08 - Editing Ebola – how to tame one of the world’s deadliest viruses

#181 - 20/01/08 - Sex runs hot and cold – why does temperature control the gender of Jacky dragons?

#180 - 19/01/08 - Canny breeding creates vitamin A-rich maize without genetic modification

#179 - 17/01/08 - Meet the genetically modified super-carrot, now fortified with calcium

#178 - 14/01/08 - Dinosaurs grew fast, had teen pregnancies and died young

#177 - 11/01/08 - An interview with David Attenborough

#176 - 10/01/08 - Loss of big mammals breaks alliance between ants and trees

#175 - 07/01/08 - Cross-breeding restores sight to blind cavefish

#174 - 05/01/08 - Newborn babies have a preference for the way living things move

#173 - 03/01/08 - Evolutionary arms race turns ants into babysitters for Alcon blue butterflies

#172 - 01/01/08 - Assassin bugs deceive spiders with coat of many corpses

 

December 2007

#171 - 27/12/07 - Not Exactly Rocket Science’s Review of 2007

#170 - 24/12/07 - Whales evolved from small aquatic hoofed ancestors

#169 - 22/12/07 - Cuttlefish tailor their defences to their predators

#168 - 19/12/07 - Short lives, short size - why are pygmies small?

#167 - 15/12/07 - Prehistoric meat-eating fungus snared microscopic worms

#166 - 13/12/07 - Time doesn’t actually slow down in a crisis

#165 - 11/12/07 - Mud time capsules show evolutionary arms race between host and parasite

#164 -08/12/07 - Sickle cell mice cured by stem cells reprogrammed from their own tails

#163 - 07/12/07 - Subliminal flag shifts political views and voting choices

#162 - 06/12/07 - Songbirds need so-called “human language gene” to learn new tunes

#161 - 04/12/07 - Chimps trump university students at memory task

 

November 2007

#160 - 30/11/07 - The social life of our extinct relatives

#159 - 29/11/07 - MRSA gets piggyback from livestock to human

#158 - 27/11/07 - Solving the San Francisco plankton mystery

#157 - 23/11/07 - Human skin cells reprogrammed into stem cells

#156 - 21/11/07 - Brain of the beholder – the neuroscience of beauty in sculpture

#155 - 18/11/07 - Envious capuchin monkeys react badly to raw deals

#154 - 15/11/07 - Cooperating bacteria are vulnerable to slackers

#153 - 12/11/07 - Delay not deviance: brains of children with ADHD mature later than others

#152 - 11/11/07 - Drought drives toads to mate with other species

#151 - 10/11/07 - How soil imprisons ancient carbon

#150 - 07/11/07 -Fake cleaner fish dons multiple disguises

#149 - 05/11/07 -Metabolic gene and breastfeeding unite to boost a child’s IQ

#148 - 04/11/07 - Ants spread collective immunity through contact

#147 - 03/11/07 - Broken chains and faulty mirrors cause problems for autistic children

 

October 2007

#146 - 31/10/07 - ‘Brainbow’ paints individual neurons with different colours

#145 - 24/10/07 - The neuroscience of optimism – how the brain creates a rosy outlook

#144 - 22/10/07 - Clock gene and moonlight help corals to co-ordinate a mass annual orgy

#143 - 20/10/07 - How India became the fastest continent

#142 - 18/10/07 - Elephants smell the difference between human ethnic groups

#141 - 14/10/07 - Bdelloid rotifers – 80 million years without sex

#140 - 10/10/07 - The evolution of the past tense – how verbs change over time

#139 - 09/10/07 - Ants herd aphids with tranquilisers in their footsteps

#138 - 08/10/07 - Buzzing bees scare elephants away

#137 - 06/10/07 - Ancient plants manipulate insects for hot, smelly sex

#136 - 03/10/07 - Doctors repress their responses to their patients’ pain

#135 - 01/10/07 - Genes affect our likelihood to punish unfair play

#134 - 01/10/07 - Sabre-toothed cats had weak bites

 

September 2007

#133 - 28/09/07 - Paper wasps – caring mothers evolved into selfless workers

#132 - 26/09/07 - Tardigrades become first animals to be exposed to open space

#131 - 24/09/07 - Space flight turns Salmonella into super-bug

#130 - 23/09/07 - Flu viruses take the summer off to go travelling

#129 - 21/09/07 - Predicting ethnic violence - why good neighbours need good fences

#128 - 20/09/07 - Evidence that Velociraptor had feathers

#127 - 19/09/07 - The fall and rise of lefties in Victorian England

#126 - 17/09/07 - Mobs of honeybees suffocate hornets to death

#125 - 14/09/07 - Trout with salmon parents could help to revive endangered fish species

#124 - 12/09/07 - Did climate change kill off the Neanderthals? Not likely…

#123 - 10/09/07 - Genetic study puts damper on gray whales’ comeback

#122 - 08/09/07 - Is a virus responsible for the disappearing bees?

#121 - 05/09/07 - Moray eels attack ‘Alien-style’ with second pair of jaws

#120 - 04/09/07 - New plant species arise from conflicts between immune system genes

#119 - 01/09/07 - Foul-tasting ant parasitises the colonies of other species

 

August 2007

#118 - 30/08/07 - An entire bacterial genome discovered inside that of a fruit fly

#117 - 29/08/07 - Fruit flies have a taste for fizzy drinks

#116 - 27/08/07 - Virtual reality illusions produce out-of-body experiences in the lab

#115 - 25/08/07 - Scientists watch free will give way to instinct as danger approaches

#114 - 23/08/07 - Why are women better at food shopping than men?

#113 - 21/08/07 - Grammar - a weapon against bacteria

#112 - 19/08/07 - Ground squirrels use infrared signals to fool heat-seeking rattlesnakes

#111 - 18/08/07 - Molecule’s constant efforts keep our memories intact

#110 - 16/08/07 - Clever New Caledonian crows use one tool to acquire another

#109 - 13/08/07 - Dinosaurs provide clues about the shrunken genomes of birds

 

July 2007

#108 - 24/07/07 - Genetic diversity gives honeybees an edge

#107 - 21/07/07 - Five-month-old babies prefer their own languages and shun foreign accents

#106 - 18/07/07 - Megaflood in English Channel separated Britain from France

#105 - 14/07/07 - Butterflies evolve resistance to male-killing bacteria in record time

#104 - 10/07/07 - Aphids defend themselves with chemical bombs

#103 - 08/07/07 - Argentavis, the largest flying bird, was a master glider

#102 - 05/07/07 - Are women more talkative than men?

#101 - 03/07/07 - Bleached corals recover in the wake of hurricanes

 

June 2007

#100 - 28/06/07 -Icebergs are hotspots for life

#99 - 25/06/07 - Altruistic chimpanzees clearly help each other out

#98 - 24/06/07 - Restoring predator numbers by culling prey

#97 - 23/06/07 - Resistance to an extinct virus makes us more vulnerable to HIV

#96 - 21/06/07 - Bone-crushing super-wolf went extinct during last Ice Age

#95 - 20/06/07 - Moths mimic each others’ sounds to fool hungry bats

#94 - 18/06/07 - Inner ear size can predict a mammal’s agility

#93 - 16/06/07 - Human nitrogen emissions indirectly capture carbon by fertilising forests

#92 - 13/06/07 - Of flowers and pollinators – a case study in punctuated evolution

#91 - 11/06/07 - The effect of GM crops on local insect life

#90 - 08/06/07 - Simple sponges provide clues to origin of nervous systems

#89 - 07/06/07 - Cultured chimps pass on new traditions between groups

#88 - 05/06/07 - Monkeys (and their neurons) are calculating statisticians

#87 - 03/06/07 - The evolution of animal personalities - they’re a fact of life

 

May 2007

#86 - 31/05/07 - Orang-utan study suggests that upright walking may have started in the trees

#85 - 30/05/07 - Why music sounds right - the hidden tones in our own speech

#84 - 28/05/07 - Army ants plug potholes with their own bodies

#83 - 28/05/07 - Tracks provide evidence of swimming dinosaurs

#82 - 26/05/07 - Babies can tell apart different languages with visual cues alone

#81 - 25/05/07 - Bats create spatial memories without making new brain cells

#80 - 24/05/07 - Experience tunes a part of the brain to the shapes of words

#79 - 22/05/07 - Parasites can change the balance of entire communities

#78 - 20/05/07 - The upside of herpes – when one infection protects against another

#77 - 17/05/07 - A mismatch between nutrition before and after birth can lead to poor health

#76 - 15/05/07 - Living optic fibres bypass the retina’s back-to-front structure

#75 - 12/05/07 - Drugs and stimulating environments reverse memory loss in brain-damaged mice

#74 - 09/05/07 - Chimps show that actions spoke louder than words in language evolution

#73 - 07/05/07 - Beetle and yeast vs. bee – how American bees are losing the evolutionary arms race

#72 - 05/05/07 - Sneaking medicines past the brain’s defences

#71 - 03/05/07 - In conflicts over beliefs and values, symbolic gestures matter more than reason or money

#70 - 01/05/07 - When the heat is on, male dragons become female

 

 

April 2007

#69 - 29/04/07 - Drugs that work against each other could fight resistant germs

#68 - 27/04/07 - Climate change responsible for decline of Costa Rican amphibians and reptiles

#67 - 26/04/07 - Chimps have more adaptive genetic changes than humans

#66 - 23/04/07 - Attack of the killer mice – introduced rodents eat seabird chicks alive

#65 - 20/04/07 - Chimerism, or How a marmoset’s sperm is really his brother’s

#64 - 18/04/07 - Death of dinosaurs did not lead to rise of modern mammals

#63 - 16/04/07 - Carbon offset schemes worsen global warming if trees are planted in the wrong places

#62 - 14/04/07 - Opinion: Discovery of ‘fat gene’ highlights stigma against obese people

#61 - 11/04/07 - Corals survive acid oceans by switching to soft-bodied mode

#60 - 09/04/07 - Shark-hunting harms animals at bottom of the food chain

#59 - 06/04/07 - Loss of traditional knowledge in the Amazon leads to poorer child health

#58 - 04/04/07 - Platelet lifespans are set in a two-protein tug-of-war

 

March 2007

#57 - 31/03/07 - Rats check their own knowledge before taking a test

#56 - 29/03/07 - Human cone cell lets mice see in new colours

#55 - 27/03/07 - The secret of drug-resistant bubonic plague

#54 - 25/03/07- Eavesdropping songbirds get predator intel from overheard calls

#53 - 21/03/07 - Genetically-modified mosquitoes fight malaria by out-competing normal ones

#52 - 18/03/07 - Salamander robot walks, swims and sheds light on evolutionary step from sea to land

#51 - 16/03/07 - Impulsive brains are primed for drug addiction

#50 - 13/03/07 - Opinion: Not so unique - the chimpanzee Stone Age, and our place among intelligent animals

#49 - 08/03/07 - Bird-brained jays show human trick of planning for the future

#48 - 05/03/07 - Viruses evolve to be more infectious in a well-connected population

#47 - 01/03/07 - Chimpanzees make spears to hunt bushbabies

 

February 2007

#46 - 25/02/07 - 9/11 memories reveal how ‘flashbulb memories’ are made in the brain

#45 - 20/02/07 - The snake that eats toads to steal their poison

#44 - 18/02/07 - Review - Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande

#43 - 13/02/07 - The insula - the brain’s cigarette addiction centre

#42 - 10/02/07 - The heavy cost of having children

#41 - 04/02/07 - Opinion: How biofuels could cut carbon emissions, produce energy and restore dead land

#40 - 01/02/07 - Worms track us down with a chemical trail

 

January 2007

#39 - 28/01/07 - Microraptor - the dinosaur that flew like a biplane

#38 - 24/01/07 - Maternal hormone shuts down babies’ brain cells during birth

#37 - 21/01/07 - Human gut bacteria linked to obesity

#36 - 14/01/07 - Brain parasite drives human culture

#35 - 02/01/07 - ‘How to Smell Underwater’ with the star-nosed mole

 

December 2006

#34 - 25/12/06 - Christmas special - Virgin birth by Komodo dragons

#33 - 22/12/06 - Bats: internal compasses and record-breaking tongues

#32 - 18/12/06 - Feed the world - turning cotton into a food crop

#31 - 12/12/06 - Non-coding DNA drove brain evolution by making nerve cells stickier

#30 - 07/12/06 - No new brain cells for you - settling the neurogenesis debate

#29 - 05/12/06 - New learning robot adapts to injuries

#28 - 02/12/06 - Camouflaged communication - the secret signals of squid

 

November 2006

#27 - 27/11/06 - Elephants can recognise themselves in a mirror

#26 - 23/11/06 - Natural selection does a handbrake turn - quick evolution at work

#25 - 19/11/06 - Carbon nanotechnology in a 17th-century Damascus sword

#24 - 16/11/06 - Asymmetrical brains allow us (and fish) to multi-task

#23 - 12/11/06 - Climate change: one degree away from the point of no return

#22 - 07/11/06 - Our sense of fair play lives on the right side of the brain

#21 - 04/11/06 - Too few genes to survive - a bacteria with the world’s smallest genome

 

October 2006

#20 - 30/10/06 - Opinion: Women in science or “Why those at the top should mind what they say”

#19 - 26/10/06 - Magnifection: mass-producing drugs in record time

#18 - 23/10/06 - Do fruit flies dream of electric sheep? or What is the point of sleep?

#17 - 17/10/06 - Farmed salmon decimate wild populations by exposing them to parasites

#16 - 12/10/06 - Hope for corals - swapping algae improves tolerance to global warming

#15 - 09/10/06 - Tarantula climbs wall by spinning silk from its feet

#14 - 04/10/06 - The Lady Macbeth effect - how physical cleanliness affects moral cleanliness

 

September 2006

#13 - 29/09/06 - Neutralising anthrax - moving closer to a cure

#12 - 22/09/06 - Round peg, square hole - why our bird flu drugs are a fluke

#11 - 16/09/06 - Hidden ‘junk’ gene separates human brains from chimpanzees

#10 - 13/09/06 - How many types of dinosaur were there?

#9 - 11/09/06 - A woman in a vegetative state shows awareness of her surroundings

#8 - 08/09/06 - Stem cells only grow up properly in the right environment

#7 - 03/09/06 - Hatena: when two cells are better than one

 

August 2006

#6 - 31/08/06 - Aphids get superpowers through sex

#5 - 28/08/06 - The mantis shrimp: the world’s fastest punch

#4 - 23/08/06 - How Big Brother keeps us honest

#3 - 21/08/06 - Of dogs and devils: the rise of contagious cancer

#2 - 16/08/06 - The fox and the island: an Aleutian fable

#1 - 13/08/06 - The mimic octopus: a master of disguise