Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. News at a glance: Pterosaur clues, AI’s risks to biosecurity, and graduate students’ mental health

The latest in science and policy

 BY SCIENCE NEWS STAFF 28 NOV 2024 

2. Ancient footprints capture coexistence of two kinds of human ancestor

About 1.5 million years ago, early members of our genus Homo walked along a lakeshore in Africa within hours of another kind of hominin, likely Paranthropus

BY ANN GIBBONS 28 NOV 2024 

3. ‘Systematic reviews’ that aim to extract broad conclusions from many studies are in peril

Fake papers are “poisoning the well” for these gold-standard syntheses, researchers say

BY HOLLY ELSE 28 NOV 2024 

4. Gene behind orange fur in cats found at last

After 60 years, scientists know why gingers, calicos, and tortoiseshells look the way they do

BY SARA REARDON 27 NOV 2024 

5. Dino droppings reveal how the giant beasts came to dominate Earth

Most comprehensive study yet of dinos’ poop and vomit traces their rise in Poland

BY KERMIT PATTISON 27 NOV 2024

6. Drought imperils Zimbabwe’s ancient rock art, spurring efforts to preserve and date it

Local artists re-create animal drawings made by San people thousands of years ago

BY DIANA KRUZMAN 27 NOV. 2024 

7. Scientists may have found a faster, greener way to mine ‘white gold’

Lab experiments improve efficiency of extracting the critical battery metal lithium from briny water

BY ROBERT F. SERVICE 27 NOV 2024 

8. Turtles map seagrass better than satellites can

Tracing tagged turtles reveals more than 30 new seagrass sites in the Red Sea

BY HANNAH RICHTER 26 NOV 2024 

9. ‘We’re going to need a lot of solutions’: Global treaty on plastic pollution reaches homestretch

A scientist attending the final negotiations reflects on the challenges of tackling a global problem

BY ERIK STOKSTAD 26 NOV 2024 

10. The burgeoning global food trade is a lifeline for billions. Is it breaking the planet?

Stunning photos document the vast, fragile enterprise that feeds us

BY JOEL K. BOURNE, JR.  26 NOV 2024 

11. Controversial Alzheimer’s drug from Cassava Sciences fails clinical testing

Beset by fraud allegations and government probes, Cassava pulls plug on all ongoing studies of simufilam

BY CHARLES PILLER 25 NOV 2024 

12. Producing circuit boards from leaves would prevent millions of tons of e-waste

Scientists take inspiration from trees to make electronics greener

BY CHRISTIE WILCOX 25 NOV 2024 

13. ‘Dark proteome’ survey reveals thousands of new human genes

Database confirms that overlooked segments of the genome code for a multitude of tiny proteins

 BY ELIZABETH PENNISI 25 NOV 2024