News in Brief
- Animals
Pea aphid youngsters use piggyback rides to escape a crisis
When some mammal is about to munch their plant, aphids drop to the ground and youngsters want a ride to safety.
- Life
How some sap-sucking insects fling their pee
Sharpshooters hurl their pee with structure called a stylus, which sends droplets flying at 20 times the acceleration of Earth’s gravity.
- Particle Physics
The Large Hadron Collider is shutting down for 2 years
The world’s largest particle accelerator will restart in 2021 at higher energy.
- Archaeology
Stone Age people conquered the Tibetan Plateau’s thin air
Stone tools that are at least 30,000 years old suggest that people settled the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau earlier than scientists thought.
- Neuroscience
Zaps to a certain spot in the brain may ease depression
When implanted electrodes stimulated a brain region just behind the eyes, people’s spirits were raised immediately.
- Plants
Cactus spine shapes determine how they stab victims
The shapes of cactus spines influence how they poke passersby.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s InSight lander has touched down safely on Mars
NASA’s InSight lander just touched down on Mars for a years-long study of the Red Planet’s insides.
- Neuroscience
Brain implants let paralyzed people use tablets to send texts and stream music
People with paralysis could control commercially available tablets with their brain activity, researchers show.
- Archaeology
An exploding meteor may have wiped out ancient Dead Sea communities
An archaeological site not far from the Dead Sea shows signs of sudden, superheated collapse 3,700 years ago.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will look for ancient life in a former river delta
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is going to Jezero crater, the site of an ancient river delta that may harbor signs of life.
- Life
Gut bacteria may guard against diabetes that comes with aging
A friendly microbe in the gut may be the key to staving off insulin resistance, a study in mice finds.
- Archaeology
A Bronze Age game called 58 holes was found chiseled into stone in Azerbaijan
A newly discovered rock pattern suggests that the game traveled fast from the Near East to Eurasia thousands of years ago.
