News
- Tech
Blinding spies’ digital eyes
To prevent unauthorized picture taking, an automated antispy system spots digital cameras and zaps them with confounding flashes of light.
- Materials Science
Seeing the light
Researchers have developed a smart petri dish that signals cell death with intense light.
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Mammalian ear cells can regenerate
The cells responsible for hearing in mammals may be capable of regeneration, just as those of birds and other vertebrates are.
- Tech
Humanlike touch from chemical film
A nanoparticle-laden, pressure-detecting membrane feels textures with about the same sensitivity as human skin.
- Humans
With permission to nap, doctors stay more alert
Allowing doctors-in-training who are on call to hand off to another doctor the pager that summons them to the next patient increases the amount of sleep they get and reduces their fatigue.
- Health & Medicine
Pregnancy risk from blood pressure drugs?
Babies exposed in the first trimester of their mother's pregnancy to blood pressure drugs called ACE inhibitors are at an increased risk of birth defects.
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Cells in bloodstream don’t refill ovaries
Contrary to a report published last year, cells that circulate in a female mammal's blood don't seem to restock its egg supplies.
- Anthropology
Mexican find reveals ancient dental work
A 4,500-year-old human skeleton found in Mexico represents the earliest instance in the Americas of intentionally modified teeth, apparently to create space for a ceremonial mouthpiece.
- Paleontology
Sticky Subjects: Insights into ancient spider diet, kinship
Remnants of a spider web embedded in ancient amber suggest that some spiders' diets haven't changed much in millions of years.
- Earth
Toxic Leftovers: Microbes convert flame retardant
Bacteria can break down a common flame retardant into more-toxic forms.
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Older but Mellower: Aging brain shifts gears to emotional advantage
The aging brain reorganizes in ways that foster emotional stability and a tendency to favor positive emotions over negative ones.
- Ecosystems
A Chronicle of Coasts: Study charts historical changes in seas, estuaries
New research compares the long-term ecological impact of human activities in estuaries and coastal seas on three continents.
