News in Brief
- Health & Medicine
Snakebite test correctly IDs attackers in Nepal
A new test that swabs for traces of snake DNA around bite marks can identify the guilty serpent and may improve treatments.
- Health & Medicine
Mushroom extract might eradicate HPV infection
In a small trial, a nutritional supplement derived from shiitake mushrooms wiped out dormant human papillomavirus infections.
- Health & Medicine
Increase in Denmark’s autism diagnoses caused by reporting changes
Changes in how autism is detected and recorded explain 60 percent of the recent increase in diagnoses, a Danish study finds.
- Chemistry
Atom breaks limit of lost electrons
An iridium atom sets the record for highest oxidation state at +9.
- Astronomy
Rendezvous with a comet
On November 12, Rosetta mission scientists successfully completed the first-ever attempt to put a lander on a comet. See all Science News coverage of Rosetta and Philae's voyage to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
- Animals
Remote-controlled rover doesn’t spook penguins
Remote-controlled rovers get close to skittish penguins without bothering them; a chick disguise wins over the wariest birds.
- Paleontology
Some trilobites sported dual digestive tracts
CT scans reveal trilobites with two-lane digestive tracts.
- Health & Medicine
Mini stomachs grown in lab
Clumps of human gastric cells could help researchers study stomach diseases.
- Neuroscience
Brain difference found in people with chronic fatigue
Abnormality found in the brains of a small number of people with chronic fatigue syndrome is intriguing, but needs to be confirmed with more patients.
- Environment
Oil from BP spill may be sitting on seafloor
More than four years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists find that oil is still lingering over a large area on the seafloor.
- Health & Medicine
Daylight savings time tied to more exercise in children
Kids in Europe and Australia are slightly more active in longer-lit evenings, a new study shows.
- Archaeology
Ice Age hunter-gatherers lived at extreme altitudes
Two archaeological sites in the Andes indicate that hunter-gatherers inhabited extreme altitudes earlier than previously thought.
