New archaeological evidence reveals that seabird guano—nutrient-rich bird droppings—was not only essential to boosting corn yields and supercharging agriculture in ancient Peru, but it may have been a driving force behind the rise of the Chincha Kingdom as one of the most prosperous and influential pre-Inca societies.
A multi-institutional team of researchers led by Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC has for the first time identified specific patterns of brain chemical activity that predict how quickly individual honey bees learn new associations, offering important insights into the biological basis of learning and decision-making. The study, published in Science Advances, found that the balance between the neurotransmitters octopamine and tyramine can predict whether a bee will learn quickly, slowly, or not at all, as they associate an odor with a reward.
Global climate mitigation scenarios shape real-world policy choices of who cuts emissions, who pays, and who benefits from climate action. A new IIASA-led essay published in PLOS Climate identifies how these influential tools address equity and justice, with implications for perceptions of fairness and public trust in climate policy.
Researchers have identified a new type of visual cell in deep-sea fish larvae that challenges a century of knowledge about vertebrate visual systems. Dr. Fabio Cortesi from The University of Queensland's School of the Environment said the finding could lead to new camera technology and medical treatments.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, space offers a heart-shaped greeting. The star Mira A, about 300 light-years from Earth, has released material into an expanding cloud of gas and dust resembling a heart. Both the amount of material and the speed at which the star ejected it were unexpected.
The Trump administration's drive to increase domestic production of fossil fuels and mining of key minerals likely cannot be accomplished without a key constituency: Native nations.
Valentine's Day is traditionally a time of heart-shaped balloons, overpriced roses and fully booked restaurants. Couples kiss and hold hands, smiling selfies celebrate a day of public displays of devotion.
The people of Berlin woke on August 13, 1961, to discover that their city had been split in two.
At the Winter Olympics, athletes race down immaculate white slopes. The snow looks perfect. But it is largely manufactured.
Dashiell Hammett mentioned Sam Spade's jutting chin in the opening sentence of his novel, "The Maltese Falcon." Spade's chin was among the facial features Hammett used to describe his fictional detective's appearance, but starting with that distinctive chin was—at least from an evolutionary perspective—an unintentional redundancy, since every chin is distinctive in the sense that humans are the only primates to possess that physical characteristic.
