Elise Cutts

All Stories by Elise Cutts

  1. illustration of Megacerops kuwagatarhinus with small, striped mammals in the foreground and background
    Paleontology

    ‘Thunder beast’ fossils show how some mammals might have gotten big

    Rhinolike mammals called brontotheres repeatedly evolved into bigger and smaller species, a fossil analysis shows. The bigger ones won out over time.

  2. An illustration of five people standing around on a cream colored background. Above all of them are multi-colored speech bubbles with the word "Hello" in multiple languages.
    Neuroscience

    Your brain wires itself to match your native language

    MRI scans of nearly 100 native speakers of either German or Arabic revealed differences in how the language circuits of their brains are connected.

  3. A simulation image of filaments and clusters shown in blue lines and pink dots.
    Cosmology

    Astronomers spotted shock waves shaking the web of the universe for the first time

    Studying these elusive shock waves could give scientists a better look at the mysterious magnetic fields that permeate the cosmic web.

  4. Round Emiliania huxleyi cells, some clustered around smaller rod-shaped bacteria, consuming them
    Microbes

    Some ‘friendly’ bacteria backstab their algal pals. Now we know why

    The friendly relationship between Emiliana huxleyi and Roseobacter turns deadly when the bacteria get a whiff of the algae’s aging-related chemicals.

  5. an echidna standing in tall grass
    Animals

    These adorable Australian spike-balls beat the heat with snot bubbles

    An echidna’s snot bubbles coat the spiny critter’s nose with moisture, which then evaporates and draws heat from the sinus, cooling the blood.

  6. A photo of a researcher looking at a clear petri dish with blue dots on it.
    Health & Medicine

    Here’s how mysterious last-resort antibiotics kill bacteria

    Scientists are finally getting a grip on how a class of last-resort antibiotics works — the drugs kill bacteria by crystallizing their membranes.

  7. Shakleton Glacier
    Microbes

    Missing Antarctic microbes raise thorny questions about the search for aliens

    Scientists couldn’t find microbial life in soils from Antarctica, hinting at a limit for habitability on Earth and other worlds.