Professor Payson Sheets and his team uncovered a manioc field one-third the size of football field
A University of Colorado at Boulder team has uncovered an ancient and previously unknown Maya agricultural system — a large manioc field intensively cultivated as a staple crop that was buried and exquisitely preserved under a blanket of ash [...]

 
Round goby fish
Scientists have found the existence of two types of males of a fiercely invasive fish spreading through the Great Lakes, which may provide answers as to how they rapidly reproduce.

 
An outgoing personality — especially in senior women — may increase the human ability to withstand stress
Our ability to withstand stress-related, inflammatory diseases may be associated, not just with our race and sex, but with our personality as well, according to a study published in the July issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. [...]

 
E. coli bacteria
Bacteria can anticipate a future event and prepare for it, according to new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In a paper that appeared June 17 in Nature, Prof. Yitzhak Pilpel, doctoral student Amir Mitchell and research associate Dr. Orna Dahan of the Institute’s Molecular Genetics Department, together with Prof. Martin Kupiec [...]

 
reconstructed landscape showing the Shalbatana lake on Mars as it may have looked roughly 3.4 billion years ago.
A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has discovered the first definitive evidence of shorelines on Mars, an indication of a deep, ancient lake there and a finding with implications for the discovery of past life on [...]

Dolphin-assisted therapy helps disabled children
A 350-pound dolphin named Matteo tickles a toddler with his snout, sparking a burst of giggles.

‘Gangsta gene’ identified in US teens  
It’s not nearly as overt as a hand sign or a coloured bandana, but DNA may offer one clue as to whether someone belongs to a gang or not.

The interface between a sunspot’s central and outer regions shows a complex structure.
In a breakthrough that will help scientists unlock mysteries of the sun and its impacts on Earth, scientists have created the first-ever comprehensive computer model of sunspots. The resulting visuals capture both scientific detail and remarkable beauty. The results are published this week [...]

Zoroastrian bird symbol or Phoenix?
(Image credit – Dai Dobbs)

One of the first things one learns when studying crop circles is that the formations are concentrated and appear in a small area of England more often than the rest of the world combined. This awesome bird formation happens to also be in the same field as the fantastic dragonfly [...]