News in Brief

Environment

Manganese turns honeybees into bumbling foragers

Ingesting low doses of the heavy metal manganese disrupts honeybee foraging, a new experiment suggests.

Health & Medicine

Clean-up gene gone awry can cause Lou Gehrig’s disease

Scientists have linked mutations on a gene involved in inflammation and cell cleanup to ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Paleontology

Fossil of monstrous fish-eating amphibian unearthed

A new Triassic species of giant amphibian lived like a crocodile instead of like its cute little salamander and frog relatives of today.

Astronomy

Space dust is tough enough to survive supernova aftermath

Dust still lingers in the remnants of supernova that exploded 10,000 years ago, affirming that the explosions filled the early universe with dust.

Paleontology

Fearsome croc called the Carolina Butcher once ruled the north

Early ancestors of crocodiles, not dinosaurs, may have been northern Pangaea’s top predator 230 million years ago, according to a new fossil find.

Humans

History of the United Kingdom revealed in its genes

A genetics study finds subtle differences that reveal secrets about the history and ancestry of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Health & Medicine

For heart repair, call RNA

Mice regrow muscle cells after heart attacks if injected with molecules mimicking RNA involved in cell growth.

Astronomy

Fast-spinning young Earth pulled the moon into a yo-yo orbit

The early moon’s orbit created a cycle between lunar phases unlike the one seen nowadays.

Ecosystems

Even fast-breeding rabbits can’t withstand Everglades python invasion

Even marsh rabbits in the Everglades can’t breed fast enough to keep their population going when Burmese pythons warm up for summer hunting.

Health & Medicine

Aspirin, other painkillers may not reduce colorectal cancer risk for everybody

Aspirin and NSAIDs appear widely protective against colorectal cancer, but not for everyone.

Paleontology

Rise of East African Plateau dated by whale fossil

A whale fossil is helping to pinpoint when the East African Plateau started to rise and how the uplift played a role in human evolution, scientists say.

Materials Science

Copper-wire ‘metamirror’ reflects selectively

A metamaterial mirror reflects only a single wavelength of light, potentially leading to more compact and affordable radio antennas.