News
- Oceans
Death by magma
Widespread extinctions in the world’s oceans millions of years ago may have been triggered by massive underwater volcanic eruptions that created much of the Caribbean seafloor.
- Life
HIV after DARC
A gene variant prevalent in people of African descent increases the risk of HIV infection but also helps slow disease progression.
- Space
Wet, almost, all over
The Red Planet held much more water than previously thought, and the wet environments had the potential to support life early in the solar system’s history, a new study suggests.
- Space
Ceres may be an asteroid impersonator
The largest asteroid in the solar system may not be an asteroid at all but a cometlike relative of Pluto that came in from the cold several billion years ago.
- Space
Central star is no dim bulb
Observing the dusty center of the Milky Way, astronomers have the second brightest star known in the galaxy
- Health & Medicine
Asthma oddity
Helicobacter pylori, a common microbe that colonizes the stomach, might protect against asthma.
- Life
Young tasmanian devil moms
Tasmanian devils have started mating much earlier in response to an epidemic, called facial tumor disease, that is wiping out much of their population.
- Health & Medicine
The two faces of prion proteins
Scientists are learning more about the protein behind mad cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, including how to interfere with the protein’s production in the brains of mice.
- Climate
Another climate ailment
Global warming may turn out to be more than just a pain in the neck: Rising average temperatures could trigger an increased prevalence of kidney stones.
- Space
Saturn’s moon may host an ocean
The Cassini spacecraft has found what may be the strongest evidence yet that Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus has an ocean beneath its icy surface.
- Materials Science
Solar panels to dye for
Scientists show that cheap chemical dyes may one day help with the efficient capture of the sun's energy
- Life
Astrocytes are rising stars
Astrocytes, brain cells previously thought to be support cells for neurons, regulate blood flow in the brain and may aid neuron signaling. The regulation of blood flow makes visualizing brain activity with fMRI possible.
