News
- Paleontology
Early Biped Fossil Pops Up in Europe
A newly described, nearly complete 290-million-year-old fossil of an ancient reptile pushes back the evidence for terrestrial bipedalism by 60 million years.
- Animals
Shielded cells help fish ignore noise
Fish can sort out the interesting ripples from the background rush of water currents through sensors shielded in canals that run along their flanks.
- Astronomy
Puzzle on the Edge: The moon that isn’t there
Contrary to predictions, Sedna, the most distant object known in the solar system, does not appear to have a moon.
- Materials Science
Crafty Carriers: Armoring vesicles for more precise and reliable drug delivery
Materials scientists are designing tough, microscopic drug-delivery vesicles that could reach their targets intact and release their cargoes on cue.
- Health & Medicine
Zapping Wayward Cells: Therapy sheds light on transplant complication
Ultraviolet light can curb graft-versus-host disease, a common complication of bone marrow transplants, a study of mice shows.
- Math
Primal Progress: Pattern hunters spy order among prime numbers
The population of prime numbers includes an infinite collection of arithmetic progressions.
- Earth
Lava Life: Hints of microbes in ancient ocean rocks
Microscopic, carbon-lined tubes in lava that erupted onto the ocean floor about 3.5 billion years ago were etched by microbes, a number of signs suggest.
- Physics
Photon Double Whammy: Careening electrons may rev up solar cells
A newfound cue ball effect in nanometer-scale crystals of a semiconductor compound may lead to highly efficient solar cells made from such nanocrystals.
- Earth
Sea Change: Ocean report urges new policies
To combat environmental degradation and encourage sustainable use of resources off the nation's shores, the U.S. government needs to double its investment in marine research, integrate management of coastal and inland ecosystems, restructure agencies that influence the oceans' health and productivity, and take other far-reaching steps, according to a commission created by Congress.
- Physics
Signs of new five-quark particle
Physicists at a German particle collider unveiled evidence of a new five-quark particle.
- Tech
Super-repellent surface switches on and off
Nanotechnologists have created a remarkably effective liquid-repelling surface that can also become, at the flick of a switch, liquid-attracting.
- Astronomy
A galaxy that goes the distance?
Aided by a cosmic magnifying glass, astronomers may have found the most distant galaxy known, a body that appears to reside 13.2 billion light-years from Earth.
