Elise Cutts

All Stories by Elise Cutts

  1. Astronomy

    Spiral galaxies might have been lentil-shaped before becoming starry whirls

    By using black holes to track how galaxies merge and grow, an astronomer has proposed an update to the prevailing story of how galaxy shapes evolve.

  2. Planetary Science

    A rain of electrons causes Mercury’s X-ray auroras

    The first direct measurement of electrons raining down on Mercury suggests this particle precipitation causes most auroras in the solar system.

  3. Paleontology

    ‘Thunder beast’ fossils show how some mammals might have gotten big

    Rhinolike mammals called brontotheres repeatedly evolved into bigger and smaller species, a fossil analysis shows. The bigger ones won out over time.

  4. Neuroscience

    Your brain wires itself to match your native language

    MRI scans of nearly 100 native speakers of either German or Arabic revealed differences in how the language circuits of their brains are connected.

  5. Cosmology

    Astronomers spotted shock waves shaking the web of the universe for the first time

    Studying these elusive shock waves could give scientists a better look at the mysterious magnetic fields that permeate the cosmic web.

  6. Microbes

    Some ‘friendly’ bacteria backstab their algal pals. Now we know why

    The friendly relationship between Emiliana huxleyi and Roseobacter turns deadly when the bacteria get a whiff of the algae’s aging-related chemicals.

  7. Animals

    These adorable Australian spike-balls beat the heat with snot bubbles

    An echidna’s snot bubbles coat the spiny critter’s nose with moisture, which then evaporates and draws heat from the sinus, cooling the blood.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Here’s how mysterious last-resort antibiotics kill bacteria

    Scientists are finally getting a grip on how a class of last-resort antibiotics works — the drugs kill bacteria by crystallizing their membranes.

  9. Microbes

    Missing Antarctic microbes raise thorny questions about the search for aliens

    Scientists couldn’t find microbial life in soils from Antarctica, hinting at a limit for habitability on Earth and other worlds.