News
- Physics
Warming Up to Criticality: Quantum change, one bubble at a time
Physicists can now observe matter as it gradually turns into a Bose-Einstein condensate—the exotic state of matter that displays quantum behavior at macroscopic scales.
- Anthropology
Ancient Slow Growth: Fossil teeth show roots of human development
An extended period of childhood evolved in people at least 160,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Brain Fix: Stem cells supply missing enzyme
Brain stem cells implanted into sick mice restored a missing enzyme and extended life span by 70 percent.
By Brian Vastag - Earth
Hey, it’s cooler near the sprinklers
Extensive agricultural irrigation can significantly affect local climate and may be masking the effects of global warming in some areas.
By Sid Perkins - Tech
EPA council sets priorities
The Environmental Protection Agency's Science Policy Council has outlined the agency's nanotechnology-research needs.
- Health & Medicine
Emerging bug pilfers DNA
A virulent bacterium invading U.S. hospitals and the battlefields of the Middle East pilfers its genes from other bacteria.
By Brian Vastag - Chemistry
Scrubbing troubles
Triclosan, an antibacterial agent found in many soaps, may increase a person's exposure to a potentially toxic chemical.
- Earth
Hibernation concentrates chemicals
Some pollutants accumulate in grizzlies during the bears' hibernation.
By Ben Harder - Astronomy
Dance of the dead
Astronomers have found what appears to be the fastest-spinning stellar corpse known.
By Ron Cowen - Tech
Unlocking the Gaits: Robot tests locomotion switch
A blocky, bright-yellow robot that would look at home in a toy chest moves like a salamander, just as its inventors intended.
- Math
Functional Family: Mock theta mystery solved
Mathematicians have solved a legendary Indian mathematician's final problem.
- Earth
High and Dry: Pollution may stifle mountain precipitation
Trends seen in meteorological data gathered on a Chinese mountaintop suggest that air pollution reduces the amount of precipitation that falls in high-altitude regions.
By Sid Perkins