Science & Technology

One-time Navy pilot John Williamson flew harrowing recovery flights after an Air New Zealand crash in Antarctica in 1979.

For some 30 years, scientists have debated what sealed the fate of the dinosaurs. Was an asteroid impact more or less solely responsible for the catastrophic mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous geological period, 65 million years ago? Or were the dinosaurs already undergoing a long-term decline and the asteroid was merely the coup de grace?

How do cancer cells reproduce and form dangerous tumors? First, they must copy their DNA, and to do this, they use molecules – called nucleosides – to build new DNA strands. Many chemotherapy drugs are “nucleoside-like drugs,” and are shaped like these molecules, to disrupt the process. When cells mistake them for nucleosides, DNA replication ends, and the cell cannot reproduce.

Humans tend to yawn more with friends and acquaintances, suggesting that “catching” someone’s yawn may be tied to feelings of empathy. Similarly, some studies have found that dogs tend to yawn more after watching familiar people yawning. But is this canine behavior linked to empathy?

Talk about going off-course! Scientists are heading back to the drawing board after a controversial new study undercut a widely held theory about birds’ ability to detect the Earth’s magnetic fields in order to navigate.

Elizabeth Preston, 27, is the editor of MUSE (www.cricketmag.com/MUS-MUSE-Magazine-for-Kids-ages-9-14), a science magazine for children. She’s also the author of the blog Inkfish (http://inkfish.fieldofscience.com) on the Field of Science network, where she breaks down the science behind research discoveries. Follow her on Twitter as @inkfishep (http://twitter.com/inkfishep). Questions and answers have been edited.

Archaeologists have found a small room in Mayan ruins where royal scribes apparently used walls like a blackboard to keep track of astronomical records and the society's intricate calendar some 1,200 years ago.

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A man with mechanical legs is standing a few feet away, but Bruce Wiggin’s attention is fixed in the opposite direction.

As a child, I never dreamed that someday I would buy a bottle of water in an airport. What commodities will be marketed next? Fresh air? Aerated soil?