News
- Planetary Science
Sea salt may stripe Europa’s surface
Salt deposits on Jupiter’s moon Europa might be responsible for brown stripes on the icy satellite’s surface.
- Materials Science
Spiders spin stronger threads with nanotubes
Spiders sprayed with carbon nanotubes spin supertough strands of silk.
- Psychology
Quantity counts for baboons
Counting-like logic helps baboons track and compare accumulating sets of peanuts.
- Earth
Asteroids boiled young Earth’s oceans, remnant rocks suggest
Giant asteroid impacts may have boiled Earth’s oceans around 3.3 billion years ago, snuffing out near-surface life.
- Animals
Deepwater dweller is first known warm-hearted fish
The opah, a deep-diving fish, can keep much of its body warmer than its surroundings, making it similar to warm-blooded birds and mammals.
- Oceans
Mysterious form of phosphorus explained
Mysterious form of phosphorus may be used as shadow currency by marine microbes, potentially upending scientists’ understanding of nutrient exchanges.
- Neuroscience
Fruit flies flee from shadows
Studying flies’ responses to an ominous shadow may lead to a deeper understanding of humans’ emotions.
- Genetics
MicroRNAs track radiation doses
MicroRNAs in the blood may indicate radiation damage, a study of mice finds.
- Physics
Electron pairs can take the heat
Electrons have been found pairing up for the first time in a solid that is not in a superconducting state.
- Animals
Nighttime light pollution sabotages sex pheromones of moths
Artificial lighting at night can trick female moths into releasing skimpy, odd-smelling sex pheromones.
- Genetics
Molecular scissors snip at cancer’s Achilles’ heel
Finding cancer’s vulnerable spots using CRISPR technology could lead to drugs that hit the disease hard.
- Astronomy
Andromeda reaches out to touch Milky Way
The Andromeda galaxy is enveloped in a wispy halo of gas that extends halfway to the Milky Way.
