News
- Physics
Scaling energy barriers to save data
Researchers demonstrate a promising new way to make semiconductor-based memory that doesn't erase when the power goes off.
- Earth
El Niño: It’s back!
An increase in ocean temperatures in the central Pacific heralds the onset of El Niño, whose effects should show up in the United States this fall.
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Malaria parasite reveals old age
The DNA of a malaria-causing parasite suggests it is at least 100,000 years old.
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Biological clock study challenged
A report disputes the controversial notion that bright light applied to skin can reset a person's biological clock.
- Health & Medicine
Worm genes take on bacterial foes
Creatures as simple as worms have an effective immune defense.
- Archaeology
Ancient birth brick emerges in Egypt
Investigations at a 3,700-year-old Egyptian town have yielded a painted brick that was used in childbirth rituals.
- Anthropology
Ancient populations were game for growth
Archaeological evidence of a Stone Age shift in dietary preferences, from slow to swift small game, suggests that the human population rose sharply sometime between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.
- Animals
Slithering on Air: Flying snakes glide through the treetops
The paradise tree snake flies by flattening its body and slithering through the air.
- Health & Medicine
New Antidote to Botulism: Drug neutralizes toxin in mouse tests
An experimental drug disables deadly botulism toxin much better than current treatment does.
- Earth
Long, Dry Spells: Lengthy droughts tied to long-lived La Niñas
A new study of persistent droughts that occurred in the United States during the past 3 centuries suggests that those dry spells may be associated with prolonged periods when sea-surface temperatures in the central Pacific were cooler than average.
- Animals
Strong Medicine: Over-the-counter remedy snags snakes
Acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol—vanquishes brown tree snakes, the bane of Guam.
- Physics
Sunlight Sponge? Energy trackers gauge water vapor’s wild dance
Atmospheric water vapor takes in more solar radiation than has been indicated by measurements and models, but laser probes of highly agitated water molecules suggest that the vapor doesn't absorb enough radiation to explain the discrepancy fully.
