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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.

Planetary Science

Accolades, skepticism and science marked Science News’ coverage of Apollo

Science News’ coverage of the Apollo program stayed focused on the science but also framed the moon missions in the broader social and political context of the era.