News
- Health & Medicine
High-potency pot smokers show brain-fiber damage
People who smoke potent pot had signs of damage in a brain communication link.
- Chemistry
‘Q-carbon’ may offer quick route to diamonds
Q-carbon might be the third form of solid carbon, but some scientists have doubts.
By Meghan Rosen - Climate
Warming culprit CO2 has a cool side — and it’s in Antarctica
Rising CO2 levels above central Antarctica cause cooling, not warming, new research suggests. The odd effect results from surface temperatures that are colder than the overlying stratosphere.
- Genetics
Human gene editing research gets green light
Gene editing research can move forward, but not for reproductive purposes, international summit committee says.
- Health & Medicine
Pay attention to that under-the-weather feeling
People can forecast their likelihood of catching colds by rating their own health, study shows.
By Bruce Bower - Quantum Physics
Spooky quantum connection quantified for multiple particles
Physicists have measured quantum entanglement between several particles rather than just two.
By Andrew Grant - Physics
Maxwell’s demon faces the heat
A device inspired by an 1867 thought experiment fails to break the second law of thermodynamics, which governs the flow of heat and the drive toward maximum disorder.
By Andrew Grant - Anthropology
People roamed tip of South America 18,500 years ago
Stone tools, charred animal bones and fire ash found at the Monte Verde site in Chile indicate people reached South America’s southernmost territory at least 18,500 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Genetics
Water bears are genetic mash-ups
Drying out may help tardigrades soak up new DNA, which in turn aids the water bears in withstanding stress.
- Physics
Final chapter published in decades-long Gravity Probe B project
It took more than 50 years, but an experiment testing general relativity has finally come to a close.
By Andrew Grant - Microbes
Gut microbes signal when dinner is done
Helpful E. coli bacteria that live in the guts of animals produce proteins that can decrease an animal’s appetite only 20 minutes after receiving nutrients
- Earth
Don’t flip out: Earth’s magnetic poles aren’t about to switch
Earth’s waning magnetic field is returning to its long-term average, not heading toward a catastrophic magnetic reversal, new lava analysis suggests.