News
-
Plants
Bittersweet fruits
A new study provides strong evidence that fruits harm predators with the same chemicals that, for example, give chili peppers their spice.
-
Health & Medicine
Running interference on cholesterol
Injected RNA molecule lowers LDL in rats and monkeys.
-
Life
Humans aided, constrained by fossil fuels
Maintaining long-term population will require alternate energy sources.
By Sid Perkins -
Space
Magellanic firestorm
To celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope’s 100,000th orbit about Earth, astronomers aimed the observatory at a firestorm of stellar activity in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
By Ron Cowen -
Physics
Invisibility within sight
Two new studies take steps toward practical materials that can bend light backward, which could lead to invisibility cloaks.
-
Health & Medicine
Never bet against a pro
Players run a simulation of a throw in their own brains and muscles and are more accurate at predicting whether a shot will go in the basket than coaches, sports journalists or novice watchers.
-
Life
DNA defense
Scientists find a type of white blood cell releases its mitochondrial DNA, along with toxic proteins, as a defense against invading bacteria.
-
Health & Medicine
Perfumed mother’s milk
New study shows synthetic musks are passed on to babies through mother’s milk, but how these artificial compounds act in the body still unclear.
-
Life
Beetles hear the heat
Researchers verify fire beetles have a pressure vessel that enables them to sense intense heat.
-
Climate
Forecast: Gullywashers
Climate simulations are underestimating how often intense rainstorms occur at warm temperatures, a hint that episodes of extremely strong precipitation and flooding will strike more often as the global average temperature rises.
By Sid Perkins -
Chemistry
Fingerprints go high-tech
A new chemical technique shows promise in identifying traces of explosives, illicit drugs and perhaps even signs of disease.