News
- Astronomy
Solar System Small Fry: Stellar blinks reveal tiny bodies near Pluto
By measuring tiny dips in the intensity of X rays from a distant star, astronomers say they have detected more than 50 of the tiniest chunks of ice ever found in the outer solar system.
- Paleontology
New View: Method looks inside embryo fossils
Using an X-ray–scanning technique, scientists have taken a high-resolution peek inside fossilized embryos of some early multicellular organisms.
- Earth
Macho Moms: Perchlorate pollutant masculinizes fish
Perchlorate, a compound best known as a component of rocket fuel, can disrupt sexual development in fish.
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Bad Vibrations? Ultrasound disturbs mouse brains
Prolonged and frequent use of fetal ultrasound might lead to abnormal fetal brain development, a study in mice suggests.
- Tech
Glare gives silicon goose bumps
New experiments show that fluorescent lights cause undesirable bumpiness on the surface of silicon, identifying what may be a previously unrecognized cause of flaws in microchips that could become increasingly important.
- Earth
Obsidian artifacts can record ancient climate
The layer of hydrated material that forms on the surface of ancient obsidian artifacts as they age can be used to estimate the temperatures that the artifacts have experienced.
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Blood clot protein is stretchiest natural fiber ever found
The protein that forms the backbone of blood clots can stretch to several times its own length and then snap back to its original size.
- Earth
As glaciers shrink, the Alps get taller
The melting of massive glaciers in the Alps is removing weight from those peaks and causing them to gain altitude.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists find midnight-snack center in brain
Researchers have tracked down the location of a body clock that appears to be regulated by food.
- Health & Medicine
Blood sugar and spice
Eating cayenne pepper with meals may mitigate a hormonal response to food that's linked to diabetes.
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Poor sleep can accompany schizophrenia
The biological clocks in people with schizophrenia often are disturbed, if not broken.
- Astronomy
Braking news: Disks slow down stars
Astronomers have the first clear-cut evidence that rotating young stars are slowed by the planet-forming disks of gas and dust that surround many of them.
