News
- Physics
Transistor laser flaunts twin talents
A transistor that doubles as a laser can now operate at room temperature, bringing it to the verge of practical applications.
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Concentrated Guidance: Attention training gives kids a cognitive push
A brief course on how to pay attention boosts children's scores on either intelligence or attention tests, depending on their age.
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Milky seas clarified
With the help of satellites, scientists have obtained the first-ever photos of an expanse of seawater filled with bioluminescent bacteria.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Ray Font: Supernova remnants rev up ions
High-resolution X-ray images of the Tycho supernova remnant offer new evidence that supernova shock waves generate most cosmic rays that bombard Earth.
- Health & Medicine
Give It Up: Cutting back helps, but even a cigarette or two a day carries risks
Reducing tobacco use curbs the risk of lung cancer, but smoking even a few cigarettes a day puts a person at three to five times the risk faced by a nonsmoker.
- Health & Medicine
Better Beta: Cells grown in lab may treat diabetes
Scientists have developed a technique to mass-produce a type of pancreas cell needed for transplants into people with type 1 diabetes.
- Chemistry
Into the Void: Porous crystals could do more chemistry
Chemists have devised a new approach that creates crystalline material with some of the largest pores yet.
- Animals
Looks Matter: If swallows aren’t spiffy, mates’ fidelity is iffy
If a male barn swallow's plumage is more attractive than that of other males, his mate is less likely to have furtive flings with other wooers.
- Health & Medicine
Falling Influence: Influenza fighters have limited effects
The most readily available drugs against influenza have abruptly declined in effectiveness in the past decade.
- Planetary Science
Sun grazers: A thousand comets and counting
An amateur astronomer analyzing images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has found the 999th and 1,000th comets detected by the craft.
- Tech
Light sensor may improve battlefield tools
A new microscale ultraviolet-light sensor could help shrink the size of some military field systems used for detecting biowarfare agents and clandestine communications to the dimensions of a cell phone.
- Earth
Save the frogs
Researchers have drafted a proposed $400 million research-and-rescue plan for the world's amphibians, at least half of which are in decline or even facing serious risk of extinction.
