News
- Math
Searchers capture a champion megaprime
A participant in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search set the record for the largest known prime number, which runs to 4,053,946 decimal digits.
- Tech
Fly lends an ear to microphone design
The unique way some flies localize sound has inspired engineers to design tiny directional microphones for hearing aids and surveillance devices.
- Health & Medicine
Surprise! Fat proves a taste sensation
The share of consumed fat that travels into a person's bloodstream depends on whether the person tasted fat to begin with.
- Health & Medicine
Delayed surgery aids spinal cord repair
Postponing surgery to repair a severed spinal cord in rats improves the likelihood that the operation will counteract the injury.
- Materials Science
Synthetic molecules mimic bone growth
Researchers have created molecules that assemble into a microscopic structure that mimics bone.
- Animals
Female ducks can double eggs by trickery
Female goldeneye ducks can double their offspring by sneaking eggs into other females' nests before settling down to a nest of their own.
- Astronomy
X-ray craft sees Venus in whole new light
Astronomers have unveiled the first X-ray image of Venus.
- Anthropology
Human evolution put brakes on tooth growth
A new analysis of fossil teeth indicates that the slower pace of dental development observed in people today dates back only about 100,000 years.
- Animals
New lizard ties for ‘world’s smallest’
A newly discovered lizard small enough to curl up on a dime ties for the title of the smallest of its kind in the world.
- Health & Medicine
Low Radiation Hurts Bystander Cells
New research confirms that alpha particles from decaying radon atoms can damage neighboring cells they don't directly hit and suggests a mechanism for this so-called bystander effect.
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Beer-flavoring compounds guide insects
The class of compounds that give beer its bitterness does two more sober jobs in Hypericum flowers.
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Africanized bees rescue loner trees
Africanized bees pollinate some of the big Brazilian forest trees now stranded in the middle of cleared land away from their native pollinators.
