News in Brief

Health & Medicine

U.S. patient with MERS virus is on the mend

A man in Indiana does not seem to have spread the potentially deadly respiratory illness.

Health & Medicine

Massachusetts insurance mandate lowers death rate

Since “Romneycare” was phased in, mortality fell by 2.9 percent.

Health & Medicine

First MERS case found in the U.S.

Patient in Indiana had traveled from Arabian Peninsula, where most of the 463 cases of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome have occurred.

Microbes

Viruses buoy life at hydrothermal vents

Using hijacked genes, deep-sea viruses help sulfur-eating bacteria generate power in the plumes of hydrothermal vents.

Health & Medicine

Drug resistance has gone global, WHO says

World Health Organization reports that antibiotics are failing worldwide against infections.

Astronomy

Exoplanet spin measured for first time

Astronomers measure the spin of a planet outside our solar system, and its days are short: just over eight hours.

Science & Society

Students retain information better with pens than laptops

Compared with typing on a laptop, writing notes by hand may lead to deeper understanding of lecture material.

Animals

Abandoned frog eggs can hatch early

If their father doesn’t keep them hydrated, frog embryos react by hatching early.

Chemistry

Color-changing polymer maps fingerprints

Tiny beads of sweat may offer new way to identify people’s fingerprints.

Animals

Submariners’ ‘bio-duck’ is probably a whale

First acoustic tags on Antarctic minke whales suggest the marine mammals are the long-sought source of the mysterious bio-duck sound.

Planetary Science

Mountains on Saturn moon may have come from space

A mountainous ridge around the equator of Iapetus, one of Saturn’s moons, may have formed from cosmic debris.

Materials Science

Blender whips up graphene

Easy recipe makes large quantities of graphene using kitchen blender.