What happens when governments crack down on scientists just doing their jobs?

What happens when governments crack down on scientists just doing their jobs?

On a sunny day in March 2016, Turkish forensic physician Şebnem Korur Fincanci drove into Cizre, a town in southeastern Turkey. The government had just lifted a 79-day curfew meant to help the Turkish military rout out members of the separatist PKK, or Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Turkey has long fought to keep insurgents from creating […]

A Dallas museum hosts rare hominid fossils from South Africa

A Dallas museum hosts rare hominid fossils from South Africa

For the next few months, visitors to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas will have a rare opportunity to see fossils of ancient hominids up close. A new exhibition, “Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind,” open through March 22, brings to the museum Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi. The discoveries of these South African […]

Clumps of cells in the lab spontaneously formed brain waves

Clumps of cells in the lab spontaneously formed brain waves

By Laura Sanders AUGUST 29, 2019 AT 11:00 AM It’s baby’s first brain wave, sort of. As lentil-sized clusters of nerve cells grow in a lab dish, they begin to fire off rhythmic electrical signals. These oscillations share some features with those found in the brains of developing human babies, researchers report October 3 in Cell Stem Cell. […]

A predicted superconductor might work at a record-breaking 200° Celsius

A predicted superconductor might work at a record-breaking 200° Celsius

The hydrogen-rich material would still need to be squeezed to extremely high pressures Share this: Facebook Twitter Pocket Reddit Print By Emily Conover 9 HOURS AGO The steamiest summer day would be no sweat for this potential superconductor. Scientists have calculated that a hydrogen-rich compound could conduct electricity without resistance at temperatures up to about 200° Celsius — […]

Fly fossils might challenge the idea of ancient trilobites’ crystal eyes

Fly fossils might challenge the idea of ancient trilobites’ crystal eyes

By Susan Milius 7 HOURS AGO Fossil crane flies found in Denmark have crystals in their eyes — individual, see-through mineral pieces where the living eyes’ lenses once were. Those little crystals of calcium carbonate are renewing a fuss about more mysterious ancient animals, the trilobites. Fossils of those extinct, shield-shaped invertebrates also have crystalized mineral […]