News
- Life
H9N2 avian flu strain has pandemic potential
Just one change in a strain of avian flu virus makes it transmissible by direct contact in ferrets, but the virus still lacks the ability to spread by airborne particles.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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- 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.
