Notebook
- Planetary Science
Before moon landings, scientists thought dust or crust might disrupt touchdown
Moon dust didn’t swallow spacecraft as was suggested in the 1960s. Successful exploration since that has changed our view of the moon.
- Climate
Onshore hurricanes in a slump
No major hurricanes have made landfall in the United States for over nine years. That’s a rare occurrence, new research shows.
- Life
‘Geographic tongue’ creates unique topography
A condition called ‘geographic tongue’ makes mouth organ appear maplike.
- Health & Medicine
Why cancer patients waste away
A tumor-produced protein that interferes with insulin causes wasting in fruit flies with cancer.
- Physics
Rubidium atoms used to record coldest temperature — ever
A swarm of rubidium atoms has been cooled to about 50 trillionths of a kelvin, making it the coldest substance ever measured.
- Astronomy
Source of puzzling cosmic signals found — in the kitchen
One type of radio burst has a pretty mundane origin: prematurely opened microwave ovens.
- Planetary Science
A modest Plutonian proposal
Flagstaff, Echidna, Spock. Naming conventions for the landscapes of Pluto and its moons are proposed ahead of the arrival of the New Horizons probe.
- Astronomy
The art of astronomy
Astronomer Zoltan Levay uses the Hubble Space Telescope to create stunning images of cosmic landscapes.
- Health & Medicine
Early birth control study probed effectiveness of pill
A 1960s study probed birth control pills’ effectiveness for women. Researchers are still trying to make a pill for men.
- Environment
Tampons: Not just for feminine hygiene
Tampons soaked in polluted water glow under UV light, revealing detergent-filled wastewater in rivers.
- Astronomy
‘Supernova sweeping’ cleans up a galaxy’s gas
Supernovas might sweep the remaining gas out of a galaxy after a supermassive black hole triggers the end of star formation.
- Astronomy
Enigmatic 17th century nova wasn’t a nova at all
A nova observed in 1670 was actually two stars colliding, new evidence suggests.
