News in Brief
- Neuroscience
RNA injected from one sea slug into another may transfer memories
Long-term memories might be encoded in RNA, a controversial study in sea slugs suggests.
- Earth
Satellite data backs theory of North Korean nuclear site collapse
After North Korea’s most recent nuclear test, two underground cave-ins occurred, possibly rendering the facility unusable, a new study suggests.
- Particle Physics
The proton’s weak side is just as feeble as physicists thought
Scientists make the most precise measurement yet of the proton’s weak charge and find it agrees with predictions.
- Animals
Here’s how to use DNA to find elusive sharks
Hard-to-find sharks that divers and cameras miss appear in genetic traces in the ocean.
- Physics
‘Time crystals’ created in two new types of materials
A state of matter that repeats itself in time, not space, was found in certain liquids and a solid.
- Anthropology
Butchered rhino bones place hominids in the Philippines 700,000 years ago
Stone tools and butchery marks point to an ancient hominid presence on islands in the Philippines.
- Animals
Defenseless moths do flying impressions of scary bees and wasps
Faking that erratic bee flight or no-nonsense wasp zoom might save a moth’s life.
- Planetary Science
Last year’s solar eclipse set off a wave in the upper atmosphere
The August 2017 solar eclipse launched a wave in the upper atmosphere that was detected from Brazil after the eclipse ended.
- Plants
New genetic details may help roses come up smelling like, well, roses
A detailed genetic look at China roses and an old European species shows that there’s a built-in trade-off between color and scent.
- Archaeology
Footprints prove humans hunted giant sloths during the Ice Age
Footprints of humans and giant sloths show a dramatic chase sequence from more than 10,000 years ago.
- Astronomy
The latest star map from the Gaia spacecraft plots 1.7 billion stars
The Gaia spacecraft’s latest data release brings the number of stars with precisely measured motions up from 2 million to more than 1.3 billion.
- Plants
Genetically modified plant may boost supply of a powerful malaria drug
Using a DNA study and genetic engineering, researchers tripled the amount of an antimalarial compound naturally produced by sweet wormwood plants.
