News in Brief
- Neuroscience
Mold may mean bad news for the brain
Living with mold isn’t good for your lungs. A study in mice shows that mold exposure may also cause inflammation that is bad for the brain.
- Planetary Science
Cassini maps depths of Titan’s seas
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft finds that some methane seas on Titan extend more than 200 meters beneath the Saturnian moon’s surface.
- Environment
DDT lingers in Michigan town
Decades after a plant manufacturing DDT shut down in Michigan, the harmful insecticide is still found in neighboring birds and eggs.
- Life
Iguanas’ one-way airflow undermines usual view of lung evolution
Simple-looking structures create sophisticated one-way air flow in iguana lungs, undermining old scenarios of lung evolution.
- Planetary Science
Unseen planets sweep up dust around young star
A large gap in the dusty disk around a young star reveals what our solar system might have looked like 4.6 billion years ago.
- Environment
Colorado deluge produced flood of drug-resistance genes
Flooding in Colorado’s South Platte River Basin washed antibiotics and drug-resistance genes into pristine waterways.
- Quantum Physics
Milestone algorithm runs on quantum computer
An algorithm proposed two decades ago that demonstrated the benefit of using quantum mechanics to solve certain problems has finally been run on a quantum computer.
- Astronomy
Philae lander image raises questions about probe’s health
Early reports suggest that Rosetta's lander Philae bounced twice when landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
- Genetics
Rare mutations may protect against heart disease
Rare mutations in a key gene seem to lower bad cholesterol and provide protection against heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Uncommon malaria spreading in Malaysia
Malaria parasite’s jump from monkeys to people seems aided by deforestation in Malaysia.
- Animals
Bats jam each other in echolocation battles for food
By blaring a special call at just the right instant, Mexican free-tailed bats can ruin each other’s sonar-guided swoops toward prey.
- Paleontology
Ancient sea creature took to land and sea
A primitive relative of the ichthyosaur had strong bones and big flippers.
