May 2008

Mirror Neurons
Features

Mental Mirrors

Special cells in the brain mimic the actions and intentions of others, forming the basis of empathy and social connections.

storm
Nature.net

Stormy Weather

An Internet guide to extreme weather

Peacock displays for a peahen
Samplings

Shivering Flirts

It’s not the spots on a peacock’s tail that attracts peahens, it’s the way he shakes his booty.

coins
Samplings

ARRRRRRRRR!!!!

Pirates were a bloodthirsty, rapacious, democratic lot.

An artificial “butterfly” marked with conspicuous wing spots, as used in the experiment.
Samplings

Eye-Spotting

The “eyes” on butterfly wings aren’t what scares off attackers—any conspicuous mark will do.

Male dwarf chameleon, Bradypodian transvaalese, displays for females.
Samplings

Masters of Disguise or Display?

Chameleons change color to win mates, not to hide from predators.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of a primitive feather
Samplings

Preflight Packaging

Sophisticated X-rays reveal primitive feathers trapped in amber.

Average rainfall for each day of the week is shown for rain falling between noon and midnight (“Afternoon”) and between midnight and noon (“Morning”). Storms tend to grow most vigorously during the afternoon hours, and the authors suggest that pollution causes these storms to grow even more vigorously than they would in “clean” air. It is possible that these extra-strong afternoon storms during the middle of the week deplete the energy for storm formation so that less is left for storms that might form the next morning, and that this is why the morning storms tend to be weaker during the middle of the week.
Samplings

Rainy Workdays

Does traffic cause midweek showers?

Female sockeye salmon swim in the Skeena River watershed, British Columbia.
Samplings

Building Their Own Beds

Nest-building salmon engineer the flow of streams.

The underside of copal incense that filled a Maya tripod pottery bowl shows evidence that helped solve mysteries surrounding the ancient production of pigment known as Maya Blue.
Samplings

Scraping Bottom for Blue

The Maya made a mysterious blue pigment at the hour of sacrifice.

volcanic sunset
Samplings

Sulfur Spritzer

Nix another idea for halting climate change.

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Recent Stories

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Recent Interview

Xiaoming Wang

Hear author Xiaoming Wang interviewed by Vittorio Maestro, Editor in Chief of Natural History. (MP3, 17 minutes)