News
- Earth
Scooting on a Wet Bottom: Some undersea landslides ride a nearly frictionless slick of water
New computer simulations suggest that hydroplaning may be responsible for the unexpectedly large distances traversed by some undersea avalanches.
- Health & Medicine
Conduit to the Brain: Particles enter the nervous system via the nose
Tiny airborne particles can apparently infiltrate the brain by shimmying up the nerve that governs smell.
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Sleeper Effects: Slumber may fortify memory, stir insight
In two separate studies, researchers found that a specific sleep stage may amplify recent memories and that sleep can inspire problem-solving insights.
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Pushing Cancer over the Edge: Compounds trigger tumor-cell suicide
Compounds that free cancer cells to commit suicide slow tumor growth.
- Plants
Dawn of the Y: Papaya—Glimpse of early sex chromosome
Genetic mappers say that the papaya plant has a rudimentary Y chromosome, the youngest one in evolutionary terms yet found, offering a glimpse of the evolution of sex chromosomes.
- Planetary Science
Spirit Gets Its Wheels Dirty: Mars rover begins scientific work
Spirit, the rover that landed on Mars on Jan. 3, last week began studying the rocks and soil at its landing site.
- Health & Medicine
Cluster Buster: Might a simple sugar derail Huntington’s?
A study in mice with a disease resembling Huntington's shows that a simple sugar impedes the protein aggregation that kills brain cells.
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- Animals
Cheap Taste? Bowerbirds go for bargain decor
When male spotted bowerbirds collect sticks and other doodads to wow females, they don't search for the rare showpiece but go for the cheap trinket.
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9/11’s Fatal Road Toll: Terror attacks presaged rise in U.S. car deaths
Federal data indicate that fear of flying after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused a second toll of lives on U.S. roads in the last three months of that year.
- Earth
Bogged Down: Ancient peat may be missing methane source
Massive peat bogs in Russia may have been a major source of atmospheric methane just after the end of the last ice age.
- Materials Science
Marine Superglue: Mussels get stickiness from iron in seawater
The secret behind the binding power of mussel glue lies in iron extracted from seawater.
