News
-
ClimateCarbon dioxide breaking down marine ecosystems
Scientists capitalize on 'natural’ experiment to chronicle how ecosystems will change as oceans continue to acidify.
By Janet Raloff -
HumansScientists probe terrorist talk on ‘Dark Web’
Mathematical tools can pry secretive terrorist communications in hidden sector of the Internet.
-
HumansOceans set stage for human evolution
Temperature changes off the coast dried out East Africa and allowed grasslands to spread starting around 2 million years ago.
-
HumansHarsh conditions in childhood have long-term effects
Kids from Romanian orphanage also had lower volumes of gray matter.
-
GeneticsCrosses make lab mice even more useful
Scientists have bred new strains of lab animals with the goal of making it easier to tease out genetic components of complex diseases.
-
Health & MedicineOsteoporosis drugs delivered wirelessly
Implanted microchip that releases medications on command has been tested in people for the first time.
-
LifeAll genes aren’t indispensable
Even healthy people may have about 20 genes that are completely inactivated, a new study finds.
-
LifeSeeing, feeling have something in common
A protein needed for eye development is also involved in detecting vibrations.
-
EarthNatural gas wells leakier than believed
Measurements at Colorado site show methane releases are twice as high as previously estimated.
By Devin Powell -
PhysicsCrystals may be possible in time as well as space
A theory proposes that objects in their lowest energy state can loop through the fourth dimension forever, much as atoms arrange themselves periodically in matter.
-
LifeYeast find use for misfolded proteins
Protein bundles may help single-celled organisms adapt to difficult environmental conditions.
-
SpaceVisible echoes reprise 19th century spectacle
By capturing light that arrived from a stellar eruption more than 150 years ago, astronomers gain clues to its cause.
By Nadia Drake