News
- Chemistry
Pooping pandas may make better biofuels
Gut microbes break down bamboo efficiently, inspiring new approaches to process raw plant materials for fuel.
- Tech
Mining electronic records yields connections between diseases
Mining patient records, combined with molecular research, may reveal new links among medical conditions.
- Life
Belly bacteria boss the brain
One type of gut microbe sends antianxiety messages through the vagus nerve, changing the behavior of mice.
- Psychology
Men’s spatial superiority takes cultural cues
Some societies may nurture comparable spatial skills in males and females.
- Humans
Willpower endures
A person's ability to resist temptation stays constant throughout life, study suggests.
- Humans
Recession-sensitive parenting
Economic downturn led to temporarily more severe parenting tactics among genetically predisposed mothers.
- Physics
Solar cells could get quantum boost
A quantum trick to merge atomic energy levels might boost the power of semiconductor lasers and improve the efficiency of solar panels.
- Life
Genes may explain who gets sick from flu
People who stay well even after being exposed to the flu have a strong immune reaction to the virus, but in exactly the opposite way as those who get sick.
- Humans
Beneficial liaisons
DNA gift from our extinct cousins not only lives on in people today, but helps people today live on.
- Space
Asteroid sample nails meteorite source
Dust returned from space by the Hayabusa mission shows where most space rocks landing on Earth originate.
- Life
Young elephant struck by idea
In a test of insight, a 7-year-old pachyderm finds a way to use toy cube to snag a fruity treat hung just out of reach.
- Climate
El Niños may inflame civil unrest
Weather extremes associated with this climate phenomenon appear to double the risk that conflict will erupt in any given year.
