News in Brief
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
When tumors fuse with blood vessels, clumps of breast cancer cells can spread
Breast cancer tumors may merge with blood vessels to help the cancer spread.
- Archaeology
Hidden hoard hints at how ancient elites protected the family treasures
A secret stash at an ancient site in Israel called Megiddo illuminates the Iron Age practice of hoarding wealth.
- Animals
Even a tiny oil spill spells bad news for birds
Just a small amount of crude can make birds less active.
- Animals
The key to breaking down plastic may be in caterpillars’ guts
Caterpillars that feast on plastic have different gut microbes than those that eat a grain-based diet.
- Health & Medicine
How dad’s stress changes his sperm
Stress may change sperm via packets of RNA in the epididymis, a mouse study suggests.
- Neuroscience
The brain’s helper cells have a hand in learning fear
After a traumatic experience, rat brains release inflammatory signals that come from astrocytes, suggesting a new role for the brain’s “helper” cells.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum computing steps forward with 50-qubit prototype
Bit by qubit, scientists are edging closer to the realm where quantum computers will reign supreme.
- Animals
Honeybees fumble their way to blueberry pollination
Blueberry flowers drive honeybees to grappling, even stomping a leg or two down a bloom throat, to reach pollen.
- Astronomy
A sandy core may have kept Enceladus’ ocean warm
Friction in Enceladus’ porous core could help heat its ocean enough to keep it liquid for billions of years.
- Climate
Humans are driving climate change, federal scientists say
Human influence “extremely likely” to be dominant cause of warming in last 70 years, U.S. climate report finds.
- Earth
Dino-dooming asteroid impact created a chilling sulfur cloud
The Chicxulub impact spewed more sulfur than previously believed.
