News
- Cosmology
Filament of cosmic web set aglow
Astronomers say they have glimpsed a brightly lit strand of the cosmic web, the universe’s underlying structure
- Neuroscience
Thinking hard weighs heavy on the brain
A balance measures the tiny changes in force due to blood flow behind a person's thoughts.
- Anthropology
Skulls from ancient London suggest ritual decapitations
The city’s Roman rulers had special watery places to keep the heads of military enemies or vanquished gladiators.
- Life
V-flying birds pick efficient flapping pattern
Ibises time their flaps to catch a boost from a neighbor’s wing.
- Ecosystems
Trees’ growth keeps climbing with age
Older trees pack on weight faster, making them potentially the best carbon collectors.
- Astronomy
Kepler’s surprise: Planet hunter also found supernovas
NASA's now-defunct Kepler space telescope captured five stellar explosions as they happened.
- Agriculture
Some bioenergy crops are greener than others
In the Upper Midwest, switchgrass trumps maize at boosting ecological health.
- Astronomy
Galaxies’ missing mass may hide in gas clouds
Vast reservoirs of previously undetected gas could account for much of galaxies’ matter, solving a cosmic mystery.
- Astronomy
Enormous cosmic lens magnifies supernova
Galaxy warps light of distant exploding star, greatly increasing its brightness.
- Life
Marine microbes shed packets of DNA, nutrients
The world’s most abundant marine microorganism, the photosynthetic bacteria Prochlorococcus, spits out nutrient-rich vesicles into ocean waters, perhaps for genetic exchange or as a survival mechanism.
- Neuroscience
A schizophrenia drug turns on protein factories in cells
Haloperidol reshapes neurons, which might explain how the medicine works.
- Computing
Materials’ light tricks may soon extend to doing math
A simulation paves the way toward metamaterials that can perform ultrafast complex mathematical operations using light waves.
