News
- Chemistry
Explosive goes boom, but not too soon
Leavening a volatile new material with good old TNT yields a substance that’s safer to handle and easily reverted into a highly potent form.
- Chemistry
If that’s a TV, this must be the den
In some situations, the brain identifies a location based on a checklist of objects.
- Paleontology
Acidifying oceans helped fuel mass extinction
The great die-off 250 million years ago could trace in part to hostile water conditions, a modeling study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Obesity can turn body fat toxic
Excess blubber below the skin can trigger inflammation, possibly increasing risk of disease.
- Physics
A lighter Higgs, but chase continues
Target narrows after LHC experiments suggest a new lower estimated mass for the elusive particle.
- Life
Woolly rhinos came down from the cold
Ice Age icons were already adapted to harsh climate, new fossils suggest.
- Humans
Oldest hand axes found
Homo erectus may have made both advanced and simple tools 1.76 million years ago.
- Humans
Middle school scientists recognized
The first class of 30 finalists in the Broadcom MASTERS will convene in Washington, D.C., this fall to compete in new national science competition geared to younger students.
- Chemistry
Fighting flames with greener materials
New, nano-thin coatings for fabrics and plastics are relatively nontoxic flame retardants.
- Health & Medicine
Saffron takes on cancer
The yellow spice inhibits liver cancer growth, tests in rats show.
- Astronomy
Star goes boom, telescopes zoom
Astronomers have spotted a supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy, the nearest such stellar explosion in decades.
- Chemistry
Pooping pandas may make better biofuels
Gut microbes break down bamboo efficiently, inspiring new approaches to process raw plant materials for fuel.
