News
- Space
First detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet
Moving one step closer to finding the fingerprints of life in a habitable planet beyond the solar system, astronomers have for the first time detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet.
By Ron Cowen - Chemistry
Engineered bacteria create high-energy biofuel
Scientists alter E. coli microbes to make a high-energy alcohol not produced naturally
- Humans
When giving gifts, the price is wrong
Gift givers expect that expensive presents will be appreciated by gift receivers more than inexpensive presents, but three new investigations suggest that that’s not the case.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Malaria vaccine closer to reality
The success of two trials sets the stage for a final, large-scale trial that could mean approval of what would be the first vaccine against Malaria.
By Nathan Seppa - Animals
Dogs will go on strike over unfair treats
Equal sausage demanded for equal paw shakes.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Lack of sleep has genetic link with type 2 diabetes
Large genomic studies show body rhythms, melatonin may influence sugar levels in the blood.
- Space
Meteorites could have thickened primordial soup
New experiments show that extraterrestrial impacts that occurred early in our planet's history could have created the raw materials for life.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Honeybee CSI: Why dead bodies can’t be found
Virus could explain one symptom of colony collapse.
By Susan Milius - Math
The influence of influence in Prisoner’s Dilemma
Cooperation wins out over betrayal when successful prisoners recruit followers.
- Space
First LHC proton collisions postponed further
The world’s most powerful atom smasher won’t reopen for business until the end of June at the earliest, rather than in April as scientists had previously estimated.
By Ron Cowen - Psychology
Recovering memories that never left
New research suggests that some people who recover memories of childhood sexual abuse are prone to false recall, while others are likely to have forgotten earlier recollections of actual abuse.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Fat cells also linked to prion infection
Disease-causing misfolded proteins at home in a growing list of tissues, organs.