杏吧原创

Today on New 杏吧原创

All the latest on newscientist.com: lost volcano set off an ice age, Homo skull 1.8 million years old, genes and education, new language of life and more

Huge smoke cloud turns day to night in Sydney harbour
The landmarks of Australia鈥檚 biggest city are overshadowed by the smoke from nearby bushfires

Cosy quilts made of killer superbugs
Fascinated by germs and antibiotic resistance, artist Anna Dumitriu makes beautiful textiles from deadly bacteria

Beware of the yeti, and spurious science too
The announcement that the yeti mystery has been solved sets alarm bells ringing, says biologist William Laurance

Past blast: The lost volcano that set off an ice age
A volcano erupted so powerfully in the 13th century that it triggered global cooling, yet no one knew where it was. Have we cracked the puzzle at last?

Diving in Bermuda to find the coral reef survivors
Join a team of researchers underwater as they use a panoramic camera system, a remote-controlled robot and other high-tech tools to document coral bleaching

Neuroscience wrongs will make a right
The history of scientific discovery suggests that accepting most neuroscience is unsound is a big step towards a better understanding of the brain

Feedback: Well-trained electrons
Unruly electrons, an invitation to lie, multiple-choice encryption and more

Astrophile: Soggy bogs swallow craters on Titan
A lack of impact craters in the lowlands of Saturn鈥檚 largest moon hint at extensive wetlands fed by underground springs of liquid hydrocarbons

School achievement isn鈥檛 just in your genes
Anyone who asserts that educational attainment is in large part inherited needs a lesson in modern genetics, says biologist Steven Rose

For instant climate change, just add one large comet
Two geologists claim atmospheric CO2 levels more than doubled in a single year 55 million years ago 鈥 the speed makes a comet impact the likely culprit

Don鈥檛 let nuclear renaissance bury carbon capture
While building new nuclear reactors, the UK must store carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, otherwise it will increase emissions just as it needs to cut them

Sleep boosts brain鈥檚 self-cleaning system
The 鈥済lymphatic system鈥, a network of pipes that removes pathogens and harmful molecules from the brain, is most active during sleep

Reprogrammed bacterium speaks new language of life
E. coli has had its cell machinery redesigned so that one of its genetic 鈥渨ords鈥 鈥 or codons 鈥 can now say whatever we want

Complete skull of 1.8-million-year-old hominin found
A full skull of a Homo erectus has been unearthed in Georgia, and it suggests a radical rethink of our evolutionary history

Virus-sabotaging protein may help people defy HIV
Extra 鈥榮aboteur鈥 protein in the cytoplasm of blood cells may stop HIV from copying itself without the need for drugs

Universal law of urination found in mammals
Elephants, dogs and goats all take 21 seconds to empty full bladders. A law of urination explains the physics of what happens when you just gotta go

Matterhorn mapped by fleet of drones in just 6 hours
The imposing mountain in the Swiss Alps has been mapped by a fleet of autonomous, fixed-wing drones, launched from its peak