Notebook
- Animals
Eat your stinkbugs
Prepared as a snack by some groups in southern Africa, the stinkbug Encosternum delegorguei is a good source of protein and antioxidants.
- Animals
Is Amy Tan actually ‘thrilled’ a leech is named after her?
Novelist Amy Tan answers a lingering question about celebrities honored in scientific names of new species — her namesake is a leech.
- Health & Medicine
Explaining Henry VIII’s erratic behavior
Researchers say Henry VIII suffered several traumatic brain injuries that may explain his explosive outbursts and memory problems.
- Archaeology
Tailored Egyptian dress is the oldest ever found
A pleated dress found in an ancient Egyptian cemetery called Tarkhan was cut, fitted and tailored between 5,400 and 5,100 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
There’s more than one way to quit smoking
Three therapies to quit smoking are all about equally effective in the long term, a new study finds.
- Genetics
Prion disease gets personal
Diagnosis of a brain-wasting disease drove a married couple into science.
- Chemistry
After 75 years, plutonium is still NASA’s fuel of choice
On the 75th anniversary of the discovery of plutonium, the radioactive element is still not a major source of fuel for nuclear power plants in the United States.
- Planetary Science
120 seconds in Pluto’s shadow
A 747 outfitted with a telescope worked with New Horizons to reveal details about Pluto’s atmosphere.
- Agriculture
Plants trick bacteria into attacking too soon
Scientists have discovered that a plant compound interferes with bacterial communication.
- Tech
Pill measures gut gas
A gas-sensing ingestible capsule tested in pigs could someday help doctors assess people’s gastrointestinal health.
- Animals
Harvester ants are restless, enigmatic architects
Florida harvester ants dig complex, curly nests over, then leave and do it again.
- Animals
Meet the tarantula in black
Named for Johnny Cash, a new species of tarantula makes its home in the shadow of Folsom Prison.
