News
- Earth
Ancient crystal growths in caves reveal seas rose 16 meters in a warmer world
The Pliocene era cave formations on the Spanish coast of Mallorca offer hints about how oceans could respond to human-driven climate change.
- Humans
Vaping is suspected in a fifth death and hundreds of injuries
U.S. health officials can’t yet point to a substance or device that’s behind a rising number of severe lung injuries and deaths tied to e-cigarettes.
- Space
India lost contact with its first lunar lander just before touchdown
Chandrayaan 2 mission officials are trying to figure out why its rover-carrying lander went silent moments before it was to reach the moon’s surface.
- Humans
The longest Dead Sea Scroll sports a salt finish that the others lack
A newly discovered salty lamination on the Temple Scroll could help explain why the ancient manuscript’s parchment is remarkably bright.
- Earth
How Kilauea’s lava fed a massive phytoplankton bloom
Kilauea’s heavy flow of lava into the ocean in 2018 added both food and heat to fuel a sudden bloom of ocean algae.
- Physics
A new magnetic swirl, or skyrmion, could upgrade data storage
Magnetic whorls in a new type of material could be easier to control than their predecessors.
- Humans
DNA indicates how ancient migrations shaped South Asian languages and farming
Farming in the region may have sprung up locally, while herders from afar sparked language changes.
- Space
Einstein’s general relativity reveals new features of a pulsar
Measurements that rely on the physicist’s theory of gravity are letting astronomers view a pulsar in ‘a whole new way.’
- Tech
A mini chemical lab could one day test for toxic nerve agents in the field
Portable lab equipment that detects nerve agents could help judge when it’s safe to return to previously exposed areas.
- Anthropology
This ancient Denisovan finger bone is surprisingly humanlike
Despite Neandertal ties, extinct hominids called Denisovans had a touching link to humans, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Liquid mouth drops could one day protect people from peanut allergies
An immune treatment given as liquid mouth drops helped allergic children eat the equivalent of a few peanuts without having a reaction.
- Health & Medicine
Pancreatic cancer tumors attack the blood vessels that deliver chemo drugs
Pancreatic cancer is nearly impossible to treat, but now we may know why. New research shows that the tumors destroy nearby blood vessels, making it harder for drugs to reach them.
