News in Brief
- Physics
High-speed video reveals physics tricks for shooting a rubber band
To fire a rubber band flawlessly, use a wide band and don’t pull too hard, physicists suggest.
- Physics
The physics of fluids explains how crowds of marathon runners move
A new liquid-inspired theory can predict the movements of marathoners lining up for a race.
- Planetary Science
China just landed the first spacecraft on the moon’s farside
China’s Chang’e-4 lander and rover just became the first spacecraft to land on the farside of the moon.
- Health & Medicine
How decorating for Christmas sends people to the ER
A study takes a stab at quantifying Christmas-related mishaps.
- Space
The sugar that makes up DNA could be made in space
Deoxyribose, the sugar of DNA, was created in a lab simulating ice in space.
- Neuroscience
Here’s a rare way that an Alzheimer’s protein can spread
Amyloid-beta found in vials of growth hormone can move from brain to brain, a mouse study shows.
- Astronomy
The Parker Solar Probe takes its first up-close look at the sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe survived its first encounter with the sun and is sending data back to Earth.
- Life
Biologists are one step closer to creating snake venom in the lab
Milking snakes for venom may soon no longer be needed to make antidotes for bites.
- Life
Getting goose bumps could boost hair growth
The same nerves and muscles that create goose bumps may make hair grow.
- Physics
A satellite screw-up reaffirms Einstein’s theory of gravity
Two spacecraft confirm that time passes more slowly closer to Earth’s surface.
- Materials Science
Magnets make a new soft metamaterial stiffen up in a flash
Scientists can dial the stiffness of a bizarre new type of synthetic material up or down using magnets.
- Climate
Global carbon dioxide emissions will hit a record high in 2018
Carbon dioxide emissions from China, the United States and India all rose this year, a new report finds.
