News
- Earth
Composting cuts manure’s toxic legacy
Composting manure reduces its testosterone and estrogen concentrations, limiting the runoff of these hormones, which can harm wildlife.
- Tech
Curve on golf club sends ball straight
Although the curved faces of golf clubs called drivers blast balls sideways, their convex design works just right to compensate for other effects tending to make balls veer off the fairway, new calculations show.
- Tech
Cooling film tempers tiny hot spots
Shattering a 40-year-old performance limit, a new layered, semiconductor material promises to spur wider use of so-called thermoelectric devices that cool or heat electrically and can convert heat to electric power.
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Moms’ touch gives kids social push
Premature babies frequently touched in soothing ways by their mothers exhibited much better social and emotional growth as toddlers than did peers who had been exposed to harsh forms of maternal touching.
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Maternal care may leave brain legacy
Rat experiments indicate that mothers' licking and grooming of offspring induces biological changes in female pups that in turn regulate their maternal behavior as adults.
- Health & Medicine
Epilepsy article wins award
The Epilepsy Foundation honored Science News writer Damaris Christensen with its magazine award for her article "Endgame for Epilepsy?"
- Health & Medicine
Beta-blockade guards burn victims’ muscle
A medication that reduces the risk of heart attack also can diminish a muscle-wasting metabolic response common among victims of severe trauma or illness.
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Virgin birth infections shift wasp targets
Scientists have found a second bacterial infection that can cause an insect version of virgin births, but this one can affect the host that a wasp attacks.
- Chemistry
Bitter truth about beer comes to a head
Chemists have figured out exactly how beers develop a skunky flavor and smell.
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Female chimps don’t stray in mate search
Genetic testing of chimpanzees living in western Africa indicates that females usually seek mates within their home communities, a finding that contradicts some previous reports.
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Gene influences density of the skeleton
The mutated gene responsible for a rare bone disorder has been found.
- Astronomy
Age of the universe: A new determination
Analyzing the faint glow left over from the Big Bang, scientists report measuring the age of the cosmos with unprecedented accuracy—14 billion years, accurate to within half a billion years.
