News
- Astronomy
X-rays offer early warning for solar flares
X-rays shot out by the sun foretell the intensity of an upcoming solar flare, new research suggests.
- Chemistry
New data on synthetic element trigger rethink of periodic table
New data on lawrencium, element 103, trigger rethink of periodic table.
- Animals
Gazing deeply into your dog’s eyes unleashes chemical attraction
Dogs and people gazing into each other’s eyes give each other a bond-strengthening rush of oxytocin.
- Life
Octopuses move with uncoordinated arms
An octopus crawls unlike any other animal. Mimicking the cephalopod’s control over its movements may lead to more agile robots.
- Health & Medicine
Same mutations can show up in tumors, healthy tissues
Analyzing samples of healthy and tumor tissues could pinpoint which mutations are driving cancer and help develop better-targeted treatments.
- Astronomy
Galactic split provides clue to dark matter mystery
An oddly divided galaxy may provide the first evidence that dark matter particles interact through a force other than gravity.
- Plants
From lemons to kumquats, roots of citrus variety dug up
Citrus fruits’ lineage is traced through chloroplast DNA, revealing both maternal and paternal heritage.
- Health & Medicine
Genes may influence placebo effect
Certain gene variants may predispose people to experience the placebo effect, which may have implications for clinical trials and personalized medicine.
- Environment
Oil from BP spill probably sprayed out in tiny drops
Oil that gushed from the well in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill may have shattered into tiny droplets, with high pressures doing the work of dispersants.
- Earth
Meeting of the Americas came early, study suggests
Volcanic crystals thought to have formed in Panama and found in an ancient Colombian streambed hint that North and South America may have met up roughly 10 million years earlier than once thought.
- Genetics
Contagious cancer found in clams
A soft-shell clam disease is just the third example of a contagious cancer.
- Anthropology
Beads suggest culture blocked farming in Northern Europe
Baltic hunter-gatherers blocked farming’s spread from south.
