News
- Health & Medicine
Experimental drug might get the salt out
Tests in people and rats show sodium levels in blood drop as drug candidate limits the body’s salt absorption.
- Paleontology
Fossil whale skull hints at echolocation’s origins
Ancestors of toothed whales used echolocation as early as 34 million years ago, analysis of a new fossil skull suggests.
- Neuroscience
Brain chemicals help worms live long and prosper
Serotonin and dopamine accompany long lives in C. elegans worms under caloric restriction.
- Life
Acid-bath method for making stem cells under fire
No one has been able to reproduce a new technique for creating stem cells called STAP cells, leading some researchers to call for the retraction of the original research papers.
- Animals
Elephants can tell men’s voices from women’s
Amboseli elephants may pick out age and gender — and even distinguish between languages — when listening to human voices.
- Materials Science
Phosphorene introduced as graphene alternative
Sheets of ultrathin phosphorus could lead to faster semiconductor electronics.
- Ecosystems
City spiders may spin low-vibe webs
Spider webs built on human-made materials have less background bounce than those built on trees and other natural surfaces, which might shrink the arachnid’s hunting success.
- Life
Giant zombie virus pulled from permafrost
After lying dormant in Siberian permafrost for 30,000 years, the largest virus ever discovered is just as deadly as it was when mammoths roamed the Earth.
- Astronomy
Comets collide around young star
Astronomers detect clouds of carbon monoxide around Beta Pictoris that could help lead to the discovery of new planets.
- Science & Society
Domestic violence arrests may be counterproductive
Mandatory arrest laws may increase mortality rates, especially among employed black women.
- Astronomy
Black holes may shut down stellar factories
Astronomers find dead galaxies loaded with the cold gas needed to make stars.
- Physics
Superfast laser pulses could pave way for beam weapons
Short light bursts turn columns of air into energy conduits.
