News in Brief
- 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.
- Microbes
Mini ‘solar panels’ help yeast shine at churning out drug ingredients
Microbes equipped with light-harvesting semiconductor particles generate useful chemicals much more efficiently than ordinary microbes.
- Health & Medicine
U.S. cases of a polio-like illness rise, but there are few clues to its cause
A total of 90 cases of acute flaccid myelitis have been confirmed so far this year, out of 252 under investigation.
- Quantum Physics
Physicists wrangled electrons into a quantum fractal
The tiny, repeating structure could reveal weird behavior of electrons in fractional dimensions.
- Life
The number of calories you burn while resting depends on the time of day
This daily cycle of calorie burning is one of the many body processes that follow a biological clock.
- Health & Medicine
A new drug may boost dwindling treatment options for gonorrhea
An antibiotic that targets the bacteria that causes gonorrhea proved effective in treating patients in a clinical trial.
