News
- Materials Science
Fixed Focus: Adjustable lenses from liquid droplets
Seasoned with a pinch of salt, droplets of a polymer precursor become voltage-adjustable lenses that may cut costs in fiberoptic telecommunications.
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Lease on Life: Old mice live longer when given young ovaries
Implanting young ovaries in old mice extends their life expectancy.
- Materials Science
Super Fibers: Nanotubes make tough threads
New fibers made from carbon nanotubes and a polymer appear tougher than any other known synthetic or natural material.
- Health & Medicine
Full-Length Pregnancy: Progesterone product may reduce premature births
A drug related to the female hormone progesterone helps some pregnant women who are prone to premature birth extend their pregnancies.
- Anthropology
African Legacy: Fossils plug gap in human origins
Scientists who discovered three partial Homo sapiens skulls in Ethiopia that date to nearly 160,000 years ago say that the finds document humanity's evolution in Africa, independently of European Neandertals.
- Earth
More fish survive if plankton bloom early
Data collected by Earth-orbiting satellites and oceangoing trawlers suggest that juvenile haddock of Nova Scotia are more abundant in years when plankton populations peak earlier than normal.
- Materials Science
Convenient hydrogen storage?
A new porous material of metal and organic molecular parts may prove useful for storing hydrogen fuel.
- Astronomy
Lucky shot
To protect its sensitive optics, the Hubble Space Telescope had to turn its back on last November’s Leonid meteor storm, and that fortuitously put the luminous Helix nebula directly in the telescope’s sightline.
- Physics
A new twist on ropes
The centuries-old craft of splicing sturdy ropes for ships and ocean rigs gets mathematical scrutiny, turning up new information about wear and tear.
- Tech
Tiny device brings out the best in sperm
A new device with potential use in fertility treatments separates robust sperm from stragglers by exploiting a phenomenon that occurs when two microscale fluid flows merge.
- Earth
Satellites unravel a spot of mystery
Five satellites that happened to be in the right places at the right time may have confirmed the cause of proton auroral spots, aurora-like phenomena that appear high in Earth's atmosphere.
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Toddlers ride rail to tool use
Toddlers' ability to modify their use of a handrail as they walk across a narrow bridge represents an early example of tool use, according to two psychologists.
