News
- Chemistry
Here’s a clue to how this tube worm’s slime can glow blue for days
Mucus oozed by a marine tube worm can glow for up to 72 hours. New results suggest that the light may sustain itself through some clever chemistry.
- Quantum Physics
Physicists exploit a quantum rule to create a new kind of crystal
Cold atoms can form crystals as a result of the Pauli exclusion principle.
- Health & Medicine
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine stimulates an immune response in people
An mRNA vaccine triggers the immune system to make as many virus-blocking antibodies as in people who have recovered from COVID-19, early data show.
- Science & Society
Past plagues offer lessons for society after the coronavirus pandemic
Starting with the Roman Empire, societies have often dealt resiliently with deadly pandemics.
- Paleontology
Saber-toothed anchovy relatives hunted in the sea 50 million years ago
Unlike today’s plankton-eating anchovies with tiny teeth, ancient anchovy kin had lower jaw of sharp spikes paired with a single giant sabertooth.
- Health & Medicine
T cells may help COVID-19 patients — and people never exposed to the virus
Researchers found certain immune cells that help the body fight off an infection in the blood of people who recovered from a coronavirus infection.
- Chemistry
Moisture, not light, explains why Munch’s ‘The Scream’ is deteriorating
Edvard Munch’s 1910 “The Scream” is famous for its loud colors. New insight into paint preservation could keep those pigments from fading out.
- Humans
Malaria parasites may have their own circadian rhythms
Plasmodium parasites don’t depend on a host for an internal clock, studies suggest.
- Earth
Long-dormant volcano Mauna Kea has been quietly grumbling for decades
Small, periodic earthquakes have happened every seven to 12 minutes for decades, but aren’t reason for alarm, a new study finds.
- Anthropology
Africa’s biggest collection of ancient human footprints has been found
Preserved impressions in East Africa offer a glimpse of ancient human behavior.
- Neuroscience
Blind people can ‘see’ letters traced directly onto their brains
Arrays of electrodes can trace shapes onto people’s brains, creating bursts of light that people can “see.”
- Health & Medicine
How fear and anger change our perception of coronavirus risk
Americans are weighing whether to return to society. Behavioral scientist Jennifer Lerner discusses how emotions drive those decisions.
