News

Physics

Nanotubes get into gear for new roll

Atoms on the surface of carbon nanotubes appear to mesh when tubes roll across a graphite surface, making the tubes possible atomic-scale gears, which have been long-sought in nanotechnology.

Physics

Devilish polygons speak of past stress

A new theory and a simple test with cornstarch and water may help explain the polygonal geometry of rock columns in the Devil's Postpile in California and elsewhere.

Paleontology

Dinosaurs, party of six, meat eating

The bones of six carnivorous dinosaurs discovered in a fossil bed in Patagonia may indicate that big, meat-eating dinosaurs were social creatures.

Paleontology

Fossil gets a leg up on snake family tree

A 95-million-year-old fossil snake with legs may be an advanced big-mouthed snake, not a primitive ancestor.

Math

Random packing of spheres

A new definition of random packing allows a more consistent and mathematically precise approach to characterizing disordered arrangements of identical spheres.

Math

Orbiting in a figure-eight loop

Three gravitationally interacting bodies of equal mass can, according to precise calculations, trace out a figure-eight-shape orbit in space.

Earth

Titanic iceberg sets sail from Antarctica

An iceberg about the size of Connecticut recently split off from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Planetary Science

Reviewers see red over recent Mars programs

NASA's two most recent missions to Mars failed because they were underfunded, managed by inexperienced people, and insufficiently tested, according to a report released March 28.

Health & Medicine

Cell mixture attacks pancreas tumors

White blood cells injected into patients with pancreatic tumors incite an immune response that blunts the cancer in some patients and extends survival.