News
- Health & Medicine
Discerning pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis
New test shows patients with autoimmune pancreatitis are more likely to have a telltale antibody.
By Nathan Seppa - Animals
Little push turns snail lefties to righties
Bumping an early embryo’s cells can switch the direction of its spiral.
By Susan Milius - Life
Bone regulators moonlight in the brain as fever inducers
Study in mice suggests proteins could be source of post-menopausal hot flashes.
- Humans
A timely touch transforms speech perception
New research indicates that what people hear others saying depends on their skin, not just their ears.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Fecal architecture is beetle armor
Predators have a hard time getting through the layers of excrement some beetle moms give their young.
By Susan Milius - Earth
GPS bolsters view that big Cascadia quakes could hit inland
Satellite tracking of plate movements shows that a magnitude-9 tremor in Pacific Northwest could strike close to urban areas.
By Sid Perkins - Physics
How to mix oil and water
Bouncing an oil-coated water droplet creates a tiny emulsion and reveals physics of mixing.
- Agriculture
Nation by nation, evidence thin that boosting crop yields conserves land
Intensifying agriculture may not necessarily return farmland to nature without policy help.
By Susan Milius - Chemistry
Metal gives pigment the blues
Researchers studying manganese oxides unexpectedly discover a new way to achieve blue hue.
- Computing
First programmable quantum computer created
System uses ultracold beryllium ions to tackle 160 randomly chosen programs.
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Low-tech approach stifles high-risk Nipah virus
Protecting palm-tree sap from bats may limit spread of deadly disease, a study in Bangladesh shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Visual illusion stumps adults but not kids
Finding suggests that sensitivity to visual context develops slowly.
By Bruce Bower