News
- Health & Medicine
Link between obesity and vitamin D clarified
People carrying gene variants tied to weight are also prone to deficiency of the sun-derived nutrient, but not vice versa.
- Animals
Mole sniffs the world in stereo
Nostrils of the common mole recognize slight differences in smells to steer it toward its food.
- Humans
Earlier Neandertal demise suggested by redating
Using an improved radiocarbon method, researchers challenge the notion that the species hung on in Iberia for millennia after modern humans arrived in Europe.
- Health & Medicine
Nothing to fear but suffocation
People with a rare brain disorder don’t get scared — except when they breathe carbon dioxide.
- Chemistry
Gold-digging microbe
By spitting out a molecule, a bacterium draws solid gold out of solution.
- Oceans
Life found deep below Antarctic ice
Lake buried under 800 meters of ice hosts cells, researchers find.
- Health & Medicine
Some service members sleep too little
Of active-duty military personnel seeking help for sleep complaints, two-thirds get six or less hours per night.
- Life
Pigeons’ prominent plumage traces to one gene
A mutation responsible for ruffs, crests and collars appears to have arisen once and then passed among species through breeding.
- Space
An atom sheds light on neutron stars
By measuring a neutron-rich atom on Earth, astronomers virtually dig into the crust of dead stars.
- Health & Medicine
Specialized nerve fibers send touchy-feely messages to brain
Nerve fibers send pleasure signal to brain when mice get caressed.
- Earth
Warmer is not always wetter
Compared to global warming caused by solar radiation, global warming caused by greenhouse gases results in less rainfall, simulations suggest.
- Space
Scale weighs black holes better than before
Microwave telescopes on the ground determine the masses of supermassive objects millions of light-years away.
