News
- Animals
Birds know road speed limits
Crows, house sparrows and other species judge when to flee the asphalt by average traffic rates rather than an oncoming car's speed.
By Susan Milius - Psychology
Blood marker may predict suicide
People who killed themselves had higher levels of a gene involved in cell death.
- Health & Medicine
Power of sugar may come from the mind
Only people who believe exertion zaps willpower get a boost from glucose.
- Life
Years or decades later, flu exposure still prompts immunity
New forms of influenza viruses can spur production of antibodies to past pandemics in people who lived through them.
- Materials Science
Toylike blocks make lightweight, strong structures
Bucking trend toward reducing numbers of parts, MIT engineers suggest building planes from thousands of identical pieces.
By Meghan Rosen - Health & Medicine
Clues emerge to explain allergic asthma
Tests in mice reveal that allergens can trigger inflammation by cleaving a clotting protein.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Gut-brain communication failure may spur overeating
Restoring a depleted molecule in obese mice repaired their abnormal response to food.
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- Animals
Antarctic waters may shelter wrecks from shipworms
Ocean currents and polar front form 'moat' that keeps destructive mollusks at bay.
By Susan Milius - Quantum Physics
Quantum teleportation approaches the computer chip
Researchers speedily transmit information from one tiny circuit to another on solid-state device.
By Andrew Grant - Psychology
Mental disorder seen as ‘badness, not sickness’
Health workers tend to consider borderline personality disorder a tag for patients who are difficult or impossible to treat.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Racial homogeneity in early childhood may affect brain
In lab study, kids who lived in single-race orphanages have difficulty interpreting emotions on faces with foreign features.