News
- Earth
When the Mercury Falls: Autumn leaves taint river with poison
Fall foliage that collects in stagnant waterways could release significant doses of a highly toxic form of mercury, which has the potential to accumulate in fish living far downstream.
- Earth
Space Rocks’ Demo Job: Asteroids, not comets, pummeled early Earth
An analysis of trace elements found in a variety of meteorites suggests that most of the heavenly objects that rained hell on the inner solar system about 3.9 billion years ago were asteroids, not comets.
- Physics
Star in a Jar? Hints of nuclear fusion found—maybe
In a bench-top experiment, atomic nuclei may have fused inside rapidly imploding bubbles of vapor in a liquid bombarded by sound waves, but many scientists find the evidence for bubble fusion unconvincing.
- Astronomy
Martian equator: A watery outpost?
A catastrophic outpouring of water—four times the volume contained in Lake Tahoe—may have gushed from fissures near the equator on Mars as recently as 10 million years ago.
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A bitter taste in your . . . stomach
The stomach may be able to "taste" bitter substances.
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Kids’ ADHD tied to snoring, sleepiness
Heavy snoring may contribute to the development of hyperactivity and attention problems in some children, especially boys age 8 and younger.
- Paleontology
Duck-faced croc had a gap-toothed grin
Paleontologists have unearthed fossils of a tiny crocodile that boasted a smile like no other: The animal had no teeth across the entire front of its mouth.
- Health & Medicine
Protein Repair: New compounds may help cells fight off cancer
Researchers have identified a compound that enables even defective p53 proteins to initiate anticancer chain reactions.
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Copy Crab: DNA confirms that crab forms have several origins
New genetic evidence suggests that crabs aren't all close relatives and their characteristic shape evolved independently on numerous occasions.
- Materials Science
Thin Jet Flies Two for One: Double streams yield sheathed nanoballs, fibers
Researchers have used powerful electric fields to stretch liquids into ultrathin jets in which a stream of one liquid encloses the stream of another.
- Animals
Honey-Scented Elephants: Young males’ faces drip sweet signals
An Asian bull elephant just reaching maturity secretes a liquid from glands on its face that smells like honey.
- Health & Medicine
Broken Weapon: Mutation disarms HIV-fighting gene
A gene that once produced a small protein able to prevent HIV from infecting cells now lies unusable in the human genome.
