Uncategorized
- Neuroscience
Scientists remotely controlled the social behavior of mice with light
New devices — worn as headsets and backpacks — rely on optogenetics, in which bursts of light toggle neurons, to control mouse brain activity.
- Space
Planet-forming disks around stars may come preloaded with ingredients for life
Methanol spotted around a hot, young star probably originated in interstellar space, suggesting some chemistry for life may start before stars form.
- Animals
A common antibiotic slows a mysterious coral disease
Applying the antibiotic amoxicillin to infected lesions halted tissue death in corals for at least 11 months after treatment.
- Health & Medicine
How India’s COVID-19 crisis became the worst in the world
Scientists say a laxed attitude toward masking and social distancing plus the rise of new variants may have fueled India’s coronavirus surge.
- Neuroscience
Mild zaps to the brain can boost a pain-relieving placebo effect
By sending electric current into the brain, scientists can enhance the pain-relieving placebo effect and dampen the pain-inducing nocebo effect.
- Paleontology
T. rex’s incredible biting force came from its stiff lower jaw
T. rex could generate incredibly strong bite forces thanks to a boomerang-shaped bone that stiffened the lower jaw, a new analysis suggests.
- Climate
Mangrove forests on the Yucatan Peninsula store record amounts of carbon
Dense tangles of roots and natural water-filled sinkholes join forces to stockpile as much as 2,800 metric tons of carbon per hectare in the soil.
- Microbes
These climate-friendly microbes recycle carbon without producing methane
A newly discovered group of single-celled archaea break down decaying plants without adding the greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere.
- Astronomy
Saturn has a fuzzy core, spread over more than half the planet’s diameter
Analysis of a wave in one of Saturn’s rings has revealed that the planet’s core is diffuse and bloated with lots of hydrogen and helium.
- Science & Society
How to detect, resist and counter the flood of fake news
Misinformation about health is drowning out the facts and putting us at risk. Researchers are learning why bad information spreads and how to protect yourself.
- Life
Some viruses thwart bacterial defenses with a unique genetic alphabet
DNA has four building blocks: A, C, T and G. But some bacteriophages swap A for Z, and scientists have figured out how and why they do it.
- Anthropology
A child’s 78,000-year-old grave marks Africa’s oldest known human burial
Cave excavation of a youngster’s grave pushes back the date of the first human burial identified in the continent by at least a few thousand years.
