Uncategorized
- Science & Society
Longer gaps between births can halve infant deaths in developing nations
Leaving more time between successive pregnancies matters for infant survival, but only in less-developed countries.
- Health & Medicine
Manipulating nerve cells makes mice ‘see’ something that’s not there
Using optogenetics to stimulate about 20 nerve cells causes mice to perceive nonexistent vertical or horizontal lines.
- Materials Science
Permanent liquid magnets have now been created in the lab
Magnets that generate persistent magnetic fields are usually solid. But new little bar magnets have the mechanical properties of liquids.
- Paleontology
A flexible bone that helps mammals chew dates back to the Jurassic Period
A flexible bone that helps with chewing may have helped give rise to the Age of Mammals, a new fossil shows.
- Tech
50 years ago, lambs survived but didn’t thrive inside artificial wombs
Artificial wombs to support preemie babies are closer to reality.
- Animals
A deadly fungus gives ‘zombie’ ants a case of lockjaw
Clues left on infected ant jaws may reveal how the ‘zombie-ant-fungus’ contracts ant muscles to make their death grip.
- Health & Medicine
WHO declares a public health emergency over Congo’s Ebola outbreak
The yearlong Ebola outbreak in the Congo has been declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization.
- Ecosystems
Planting trees could buy more time to fight climate change than thought
Earth has nearly a billion hectares suitable for new forests to start trapping carbon, a study finds.
- Genetics
This gene may help worms live longer, but not healthier
Antiaging therapies may have trade-offs, research on worms suggests.
- Cosmology
Scientists still can’t agree on the universe’s expansion rate
A mismatch in measurements of how fast the universe is expanding might not be real, a study hints.
- Earth
Night-shining ‘noctilucent’ clouds have crept south this summer
Clouds high in the atmosphere that catch the sun’s rays even after sundown may be seen farther from the poles due to an increase in moisture in the air.
- Astronomy
Gaps in gas disks around stars may not always mark newborn planets
New research has prompted a rethink of the theory that gaps in planet-forming disks around young stars mark spaces where planets are being created.
