News
- Climate
How today’s global warming is unlike the last 2,000 years of climate shifts
Temperatures at the end of the 20th century were hotter almost everywhere on the planet than in the previous two millennia.
- Neuroscience
A frog study may point to where parenting begins in the brain
Two brain regions, including one active in mammal parents, lit up with activity in both male and female poison frogs when caring for their tadpoles.
- Chemistry
Droplets of these simple molecules may have helped kick-start life on Earth
Simple molecules called alpha hydroxy acids form cell-sized structures in conditions mimicking early Earth chemistry.
- Neuroscience
Boosting a gut bacterium helps mice fight an ALS-like disease
Gut bacteria may alter ALS symptoms for good or ill.
- Health & Medicine
Botox may relieve persistent pelvic pain caused by endometriosis
The wrinkle-smoothing treatment Botox may relieve pain from muscle spasms in the pelvic floor of women with endometriosis.
- Science & Society
Longer gaps between births can halve infant deaths in developing nations
Leaving more time between successive pregnancies matters for infant survival, but only in less-developed countries.
- Health & Medicine
Manipulating nerve cells makes mice ‘see’ something that’s not there
Using optogenetics to stimulate about 20 nerve cells causes mice to perceive nonexistent vertical or horizontal lines.
- Materials Science
Permanent liquid magnets have now been created in the lab
Magnets that generate persistent magnetic fields are usually solid. But new little bar magnets have the mechanical properties of liquids.
- Paleontology
A flexible bone that helps mammals chew dates back to the Jurassic Period
A flexible bone that helps with chewing may have helped give rise to the Age of Mammals, a new fossil shows.
- Genetics
This gene may help worms live longer, but not healthier
Antiaging therapies may have trade-offs, research on worms suggests.
- Cosmology
Scientists still can’t agree on the universe’s expansion rate
A mismatch in measurements of how fast the universe is expanding might not be real, a study hints.
- Astronomy
Gaps in gas disks around stars may not always mark newborn planets
New research has prompted a rethink of the theory that gaps in planet-forming disks around young stars mark spaces where planets are being created.
