New Scientist reports What can evolution tell us about domestic violence? Two researchers in the US suggest such violence has ancient origins and that establishing evolution’s role could help to better identify those at risk. Others argue that the research makes simplistic assumptions, and warn that some people will interpret the research as an excuse [...]

Eating a strain of gut-loving bacteria reduces anxiety-like behaviour in mice – a finding that suggests a spoonful of microbes could help stress levels go down in people too. The human gut is home to about 1000 trillion bacteria, which prevent pathogenic bacteria infiltrating our bowels. Once thought to simply prevent diarrhoea, gut bacteria have [...]

Talk about an excuse to delay “growing up” – the adolescent brain is still being sculpted into its adult form continues throughout our 20s. New Scientist reports that as children, we overproduce the connections – synapses – between brain cells. During puberty the body snips away some synapses while allowing others to strengthen. Over a [...]

New Scientist reports THERE are more cows than people here in Nirranda South, three hours south-west of Melbourne, making it the perfect spot to test a technology that remains hugely controversial. I am at a facility run by Australia’s Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC). If anyone can convince the public that carbon [...]

To win rock-paper-scissors (RPS) you’ll have to fight an urge to imitate your opponent. Humans tend to imitate those around them, often without realising it. For example, parents seem tohttp://wendyzukerman.com/wp-admin/post-new.php naturally imitate the facial expressions and gestures of their newborns. But, until now, no one realised how difficult it was to stop being a copy [...]

New Scientist reports Australia’s scientists say their country’s climate debate – never exactly rarefied – has descended into hysterics and extremism, partly driven by the nation’s polarised media. So, on Monday, in an attempt to restore public confidence in climate science, 200 scientists converged at Parliament House in Canberra, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. After [...]

New Scientist Reports: Using its web as a gill, the diving-bell spider can live underwater with only occasional visits to the surface. The arachnid (Argyroneta aquatica) breathes air from a bubble that it grabs from the surface of water using fine hairs on its abdomen. The spider traps the air within a bell-shaped silken web [...]

ON A midnight foray into my kitchen, I flicked on the light and was confronted with a devil’s playground. Cockroaches were fornicating on my pots and dancing on the cooker. They were grinding on my floor and scuttling around my fridge. Disgusted, I reached for the light switch again. The snack I had hoped for [...]