Uncategorized
- Earth
Stroke of Good Fortune: A wealth of data from petrified lightning
The lumps of glass created when lightning strikes sandy ground can preserve information about ancient climate.
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19794
Finding CO2 levels that are 2,500 times higher in 5,000-year-old fulgurites than in modern samples, scientists have speculated that the extra CO2 resulted from vaporization of organic material by lightning. Could some of this gas reflect elevated atmospheric CO2? And if so, could current laments regarding “unprecedented levels” of CO2 be insupportable? John M. CorboyMililani, […]
- Health & Medicine
Taking Cancer’s Fingerprint: Rapid genetic profiling for personalized therapy
A new, faster way to identify cancer-causing mutations in the DNA of tumor cells may pave the way for the next generation of custom-tailored cancer therapies.
- Astronomy
On the Trail of Dead Planets: Dust ring around a white dwarf
Infrared observations have depicted the dusty vestiges of a planetary system dancing around a dead star.
- Health & Medicine
Clear the Way: Stenting opens jammed arteries in the brain
Using a tiny mesh cylinder called a stent, doctors can prop open narrowed arteries in the brain much as they do in the heart.
- Anthropology
Chimpanzee Stone Age: Finds in Africa rock prehistory of tools
Researchers have uncovered evidence of a chimpanzee stone age that started at least 4,300 years ago in West Africa.
- Planetary Science
Titan’s organic cloud
The Cassini spacecraft has imaged a huge cloud that engulfs most of the north pole of Saturn's icy moon Titan and could be a source of the moon's hydrocarbon lakes.
- Health & Medicine
Small tweaks prevent 1918-flu transmission
Just a couple of small genetic changes in a pandemic flu virus prevented it from passing efficiently between lab animals.
- Health & Medicine
Orexin-blocking pill speeds sleep onset
A new compound that inhibits the activity of the alertness-promoting brain peptide orexin shows promise as a potential sleeping pill.
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Terrorism sparks heartfelt aftermath
Although terror-attack survivors often rebound emotionally, their bodies stay on heightened alert long after such traumas, according to tests of witnesses to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- Astronomy
Tiny shutters for new observatory
A recently developed device, known as a microshutter, will allow the proposed James Webb Space Telescope to simultaneously record the spectra of light from 100 galaxies.
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Two dimensions of mind perception
A new survey indicates that people discern the presence or absence of a mental life in others by assessing two general dimensions of thought.
