News
- Plants
Team corners culprit in sudden oak death
After 5 years of mystery, California pathologists announced they may have identified the cause of a new tree disease called sudden oak death.
- Physics
Why is antimatter absent? Hunt heats up
Two new particle accelerators built to help discover why there's matter instead of antimatter in the universe are closing in on an answer at record speed.
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Ebola protein explains deadly mystery
The infamous virus called Ebola has a surface protein that kills cells in blood vessels.
- Astronomy
Evidence grows for nearby planetary system
Astronomers have found the nearest known planet that lies outside the solar system, a mere 10.5 light-years from Earth.
- Chemistry
Crystal Reveals Unexpected Beginnings
For the first time, researchers have directly observed a protein begin to crystallize, and they've found it has a peculiar shape.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Blowout: Black holes spew as much as they consume
Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies can blow out as much material as they swallow, creating high-speed winds that may seed the universe with oxygen, carbon, iron, and other elements essential for life.
- Earth
Wrong Number: Plastic ingredient spurs chromosomal defects
The primary chemical in some plastics causes female mice to produce eggs with abnormal numbers of chromosomes.
- Materials Science
A New Cool: Prototype chills fast and electrifies, too
Researchers have incorporated an efficient thermoelectric material into a prototype device that can cool or produce electricity.
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Autism Advance: Mutated genes disrupt nerve cell proteins
Two gene mutations that cause autism suggest that nerve cell connections called synapses are key to the disorder.
- Animals
Careful Coots: Do birds count their eggs before they hatch?
A coot may tally the eggs in her nest, a rare example of an animal counting in the wild, suggests a new study.
- Health & Medicine
Progress Against Dementia: Drug slows Alzheimer’s in severely ill patients
The drug memantine slows the progression of late-stage Alzheimer's disease in patients previously considered untreatable.
- Paleontology
Family Meal: Cannibal dinosaur known by its bones
Analyses of the gnaw marks on bones of Majungatholus atopus, a carnivorous dinosaur from Madagascar, indicate that the creatures routinely fed on members of their own species.
