early universe, james webb space telescope, new discoveries

Our Brains Take Rhythmic Snapshots of the World as We Walk – And We Never Knew

For decades, psychology departments worldwide have studied human behavior in darkened laboratories that restrict natural movements, such as walking. Our new study, published in Nature Communications, challenges the wisdom of this approach. Using virtual reality (VR), we have revealed previously hidden aspects of perception that occur during a simple everyday action — walking. We found ...

Troy Oakes

A woman walking down a country road.

We Found Spectacular Australian Plant Fossils From 30 Million Years Ago

The Australian continent is now geologically stable. But volcanic rocks, lava flows, and a contemporary landscape dotted with extinct volcanoes show this wasn’t always the case. Between 40 and 20 million years ago — during the Eocene to Miocene epochs — there was widespread volcano activity across eastern Australia. In places such as western Victoria ...

Troy Oakes

A silicified fern fossil.

Alzheimer’s May Have Once Spread From Person to Person

An article published this week in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine documents what is believed to be the first evidence that Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted from person to person. The finding arose from long-term follow up of patients who received human growth hormone (hGH) that was taken from brain tissue of deceased donors. Preparations ...

Troy Oakes

PET scan of Alzheimer's.

Banksias Are Iconic Australian Plants, but Their Ancestors Came From North Africa

Few plants conjure up the Australian bush better than banksias, whose beautiful flowers are irresistible to honeyeater birds, small marsupials, and nature lovers. But our research, published in Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, shows that the ancestors of banksias actually migrated here from North Africa. We already knew from early fossil pollen studies ...

Troy Oakes

Banksia blooms.

The First Flowers Evolved Before Bees How: Did They Become so Dazzling?

Colorful flowers and the insects and birds that fly among their dazzling displays are a joy of nature. But how did early relationships between flower color and animal pollinators emerge? In a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, we have unraveled this mystery by analyzing the visual environments in which the ancestors of ...

Troy Oakes

Colorful wildflowers in a meadow.

The Solar System Used to Have Nine Planets: Maybe It Still Does?

Some of us remember August 24, 2006, like it was yesterday. It was the day Pluto got booted from the exclusive “planets club”. I (Sara) was 11 years old, and my entire class began lunch break by passionately chanting, “Pluto is a planet,” in protest of the information we’d just received. It was a touching ...

Troy Oakes

Planets in the Solar System.