News
- Astronomy
R.I.P. Cassini
After 20 years, nearly 300 orbits and pioneering discoveries, the Cassini spacecraft plunges to its death in Saturn’s atmosphere — taking data until its very last breath.
- Physics
How to peel permanent marker off glass
Water’s surface tension can peel a thin hydrophobic film such as permanent ink off glass surfaces.
- Anthropology
Skeleton ignites debate over whether women were Viking warriors
Scientists spar over a 10th century woman who may have had serious fight in her.
- Paleontology
Like sea stars, ancient echinoderms nibbled with tiny tube feet
An ancient echinoderm fossil preserves evidence of tube feet like those found on today’s sea stars.
- Astronomy
The sun’s strongest flare in 11 years might help explain a solar paradox
The sun tends to release its biggest flares at the ends of solar cycles — and we might finally be able to test why.
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- Life
When a fungus invades the lungs, immune cells can tell it to self-destruct
Immune system resists fungal infection by directing spores to their death.
- Neuroscience
Brain chemical lost in Parkinson’s may contribute to its own demise
A dangerous form of the chemical messenger dopamine causes cellular mayhem in the very nerve cells that make it.
- Paleontology
Woolly rhinos may have grown strange extra ribs before going extinct
Ribs attached to neck bones could have signaled trouble for woolly rhinos, a new study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Zika could one day help combat deadly brain cancer
The Zika virus targets cells that cause glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, studies in human cells and mice show.
- Quantum Physics
Minuscule jitters may hint at quantum collapse mechanism
Vibrations of a tiny cantilever could help reveal why quantum rules fail on large scales.
- Tech
Tiny quantum storage device fits on a chip
Photon information processing on nanoscale could enable future communication networks.
