科学美国人60秒 SSS Nobel in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi for Autophagy Discoveries

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan for his discoveries of mechanisms of whats known as autophagy. Break the word down and you get auto and phagy: from the Greek for self, auto, and eating, phagein. So, se

科学美国人60秒 SSS Feed Microbes Oxygen to Help Clear Spilled Oil

On June 3rd, a train loaded with highly volatile crude oil derailed just outside the small town of Mosier in Oregons Columbia River Valley. More than 40,000 gallons of crude spilled out of the train. Some burned away in a 14-hour long fire at the sce

科学美国人60秒 SSS Future Wet Suits Otter Be Warmer

Whales, seals and walruses stay warm in chilly water because they have a thick layer of blubber. We humans rely on something like blubberneoprene rubber wet suitsto spend time in cold water. But the thick versions for really icy water are heavy and u

科学美国人60秒 SSS Gender Influences Recommendations for Science Jobs

As in many other fields, gender bias pervades the sciences. Men score higher starting salaries, have more mentoring, and have better odds of being hired. Studies show theyre also perceived as more competent than women in STEM fields. And new research

科学美国人60秒 SSS Nobel in Chemistry for Molecular Machines

This years Nobel Prize in Chemistry is about the worlds smallest machines. G?ran Hansson, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, earlier this morning. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2016 Nobel Priz

科学美国人60秒 SSS Great Migration Left Genetic Legacy

Its called the Great Migrationthe journey of some six million African-Americans from the rural south to northern and western cities between 1910 and 1970. The cultural impact of the Great Migration has been well documented. But researchers have also

科学美国人60秒 SSS Nobel in Physics for Secrets of Exotic Matter

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics with one half to David J. Thouless and the other half to F. Duncan Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitio

科学美国人60秒 SSS Arctic Pollinator Faces Uncertain Future

The Greenland High Arctic is a bare, sparse place. Rather than tall trees, it has tundraground hugging vegetationand rugged, Lord-of-the-Rings-style vistas. Well I don't know, it's not exactly New Zealand, but kind of similar landscape. Mikko Tiusane

科学美国人60秒 SSS Water Bears' Super Survival Skills Give Up Secrets

Forget cockroaches. Forget Superman. Forget any other tough-as-nails creatures youve ever heard of. The most indestructible multicellular organisms on Earth are undoubtedly tardigradesmicroscopic eight-legged aquatic invertebrates also known as water

科学美国人60秒 SSS Flowers Deceive Flies with Chemical Cocktail

Honeybee stings are painful. But they're also fragrant. If a beekeeper gets stung by bees, it smells like banana. Dr. Stefan D?tterl, a plant ecologist at the University of Salzburg in Austria. That banana scent, he says, is a compound called isoamyl

科学美国人60秒 SSS Polar Bears Can't Just Switch to Terrestrial Food

When the Arctic Ocean freezes over in the autumn, polar bears set off in search of their favorite meals: fatty ringed seals and bearded seals. By the summer, the sea ice begins to melt and break apart. Deprived of access to the tasty seals, polar bea

科学美国人60秒 SSS Bookish Mobsters Made Better Bookies

Turns out, education pays off. Thats true whether youre a doctor or a lawyeror even a mobster, according to a new study. Researchers compared the FBI files of more than seven hundred Italian-American mafia men from the '30s to the '40s to other nonmo

科学美国人60秒 SSS For River Otters, Social Life Is Shaped by the Latrine

River otters, like other social animals, have to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of hanging out in large groups. A big group makes it easier to catch fish, which seems like a good deal, but there's a downside to social life too. More otters me

科学美国人60秒 SSS Falcons Patrol Fruit Fields for Pesky Invasive Birds

Washington state is the countrys largest producer of cherries and blueberries. The states wine industry is second only to Californias in value. But one non-native, nuisance bird is wreaking havoc. [Sound of starling call.] The European starling was b

科学美国人60秒 SSS Clark Kent's Glasses Aided His Anonymity

Ever wonder how the citizens of Metropolis somehow could not recognize Clark Kent once he ditched the glasses and became Superman? Well, now theres an actual scientific explanation: When a person alters their appearance, even in small ways like addin

科学美国人60秒 SSS Poor Sleepers Worse at Recognizing Unfamiliar Faces

Standing in line at passport control isn't the most relaxing experience. The officer looks at your passport at you back at your passport back at you. Kind of nerve wracking. But put yourself in their shoes. They're trying to figure out if your face i

科学美国人60秒 SSS Yawns Help the Brain Keep Its Cool

Not many scientific studies begin like this: Many hours of watching YouTube clips. Trying to find as many yawns as possible. But for Andrew Gallup, an evolutionary psychologist who studies yawning at the State University of New York, it was all in a

科学美国人60秒 SSS Elephant Footprints Become Tiny Critter Havens

Imagine a world without elephants. Not only would we have lost one of the planets most charismatic, extraordinary creatures. Also gone would be a network of ecosystem engineersbecause elephants are crucial for other creatures to exist. They disperse