News in Brief
- Genetics
CRISPR gene editor could spark immune reaction in people
Immune reactions could shut down CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.
- Climate
Warming ocean water is turning 99 percent of these sea turtles female
Green sea turtle populations in part of the Great Barrier Reef are becoming increasingly female due to higher ocean temperatures.
- Oceans
Corals are severely bleaching five times as often as in 1980
Corals are now bleaching more frequently and severely than they were in the early 1980s.
- Astronomy
Aliens ruled out for why Tabby’s star flickers
The first real-time observations of Tabby’s star flickering put the final nail in the “alien megastructure” coffin.
- Tech
Boy robot passes agility tests
Anatomically accurate humanlike robots pave the way for more sophisticated prosthetics and realistic crash-test dummies.
- Health & Medicine
Gay, lesbian and bisexual high schoolers report ‘tragically high’ suicide risk
Teens who identify as sexual minorities are more likely to report suicidal behaviors than their heterosexual peers, a new study finds.
- Earth
Federal maps underestimate flood risk for tens of millions of people, scientists warn
New flood maps suggest that the U.S. government underestimates how many people live in floodplains.
- Astronomy
New Horizons’ next target might have a moon
New Horizons’ next target, Kuiper Belt object MU69, may have a small moon.
- Life
Mini brains may wrinkle and fold just like ours
Brain organoids show how ridges and wrinkles may form.
- Earth
Watching this newborn island erode could tell us a lot about Mars
The birth and death of a young volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean may shed light on the origins of volcanoes in Mars’ wetter past.
- Planetary Science
Saturn’s rings mess with the gas giant’s atmosphere
Data from Cassini’s shallow dives into Saturn’s ionosphere show that this charged layer in the atmosphere interacts with the planet’s rings.
- Animals
Once settled, immigrants play important guard roles in mongoose packs
Dwarf mongoose packs ultimately benefit from taking in immigrants, but there’s an assimilation period.
