News
- Earth
New scenario proposed for birth of Pacific Plate
The Pacific tectonic plate formed at the junction of three other plates and above of the remains of a submerged plate, geophysicists propose.
- Life
The nose knows how to fight staph
A bacterium isolated from the nose produces a new antibiotic active against resistant pathogens.
By Eva Emerson - Chemistry
Vaping’s toxic vapors come mainly from e-liquid solvents
New study homes in on a primary source of toxic vaping compounds: the thermal breakdown of solvents used to dissolve flavorings in e-liquids. And older, dirtier e-cigs generate more of these toxicants, study shows.
By Janet Raloff - Genetics
Dolly the Sheep’s cloned sisters aging gracefully
Cloning doesn’t cause premature aging in sheep.
- Earth
Ancient air bubbles could revise history of Earth’s oxygen
Pockets of ancient air trapped in rock salt for around 815 million years suggest that oxygen was abundant well before the first animals appear in the fossil record.
- Cosmology
Debate accelerates on universe’s expansion speed
A puzzling mismatch is plaguing two methods for measuring how fast the universe is expanding.
- Earth
How dinosaurs hopped across an ocean
Land bridges may have once allowed dinosaurs and other animals to travel between North America and Europe around 150 million years ago, a researcher proposes.
- Life
Yeasts hide in many lichen partnerships
Yeasts newly discovered in common lichens challenge more than a century of thinking about what defines the lichen symbiosis.
By Susan Milius - Anthropology
Humans, birds communicate to collaborate
Bird species takes hunter-gatherers to honeybees’ nests when called on.
By Bruce Bower - Genetics
Evolution of gut bacteria tracks splits in primate species
Primates and microbes have been splitting in sync for at least 10 million years.
- Neuroscience
Antibiotics might fight Alzheimer’s plaques
A new study found that antibiotics hit Alzheimer’s plaques in the brains of mice.
- Animals
To douse hot hives, honeybee colonies launch water squadrons
The whole superorganism of a honeybee colony has sophisticated ways of cooling down.
By Susan Milius