News in Brief
- Astronomy
One of the strongest known solar storms blasted Earth in 660 B.C.
Ice cores and tree rings reveal that Earth was blasted with a powerful solar storm 2,610 years ago.
- Physics
Scientists have chilled tiny electronics to a record low temperature
In a first, electronic chip temperatures dip below a thousandth of a degree kelvin.
- Astronomy
Merging magnetic blobs fuel the sun’s huge plasma eruptions
Solar eruptions called coronal mass ejections grow from a series of smaller events, observations show.
- Physics
Japan puts plans for the world’s next big particle collider on hold
The jury is still out on whether Japan will host the world’s first “Higgs factory” — the International Linear Collider.
- Health & Medicine
FDA has approved the first ketamine-based antidepressant
A nasal spray with a ketamine-based drug promises faster relief from depression for some people.
- Anthropology
Hominids may have hunted rabbits as far back as 400,000 years ago
Stone Age groups in Europe put small game on the menu surprisingly early.
- Oceans
Tiny bits of iron may explain why some icebergs are green
Scientists originally thought the green hue of some icebergs came from carbon particles. Instead, iron oxides may color the ice.
- Life
This spider slingshots itself at extreme speeds to catch prey
By winding up its web like a slingshot, the slingshot spider achieves an acceleration rate far faster than a cheetah’s.
- Astronomy
The first planet Kepler spotted has finally been confirmed 10 years later
Astronomers had dismissed the first exoplanet candidate spotted by the Kepler space telescope as a false alarm.
- Health & Medicine
Watching hours of TV is tied to verbal memory decline in older people
The more television people age 50 and up watched, the worse they recalled a list of words in tests years later, a study finds.
- Archaeology
Ancient Angkor’s mysterious decline may have been slow, not sudden
Analyzing sediment from the massive city’s moat challenges the idea that the last capital of the Khmer Empire collapsed suddenly.
- Physics
Supernovas show the universe expands at the same rate in all directions
Analyzing supernovas indicates that expansion rates agree within 1 percent across large regions of sky.
