All Stories by Jessica Gorman
- Chemistry
Shark Sense: Gel helps animals detect thermal fluctuations
New studies suggest that clear jelly under sharks' skin can enable the animals to detect minute changes in seawater temperature—potentially leading them to prey.
- Chemistry
Sea bacteria may be new anticancer resource
Researchers examining deep-sea sediments have uncovered a large source of previously unknown bacteria that appear to produce disease-fighting chemicals.
- Chemistry
Unnatural Biochemistry: Bacteria make and use an alien amino acid
Researchers have constructed an organism that synthesizes and incorporates an extra amino acid into its proteins.
- Materials Science
Conch yields clues for future materials
A conch's tough, calcium carbonate shell resists fractures because a protein surrounds the mineral crystals throughout the shell.
- Materials Science
Quick-Change Surface: Material repels water on command
Researchers have modified a gold surface so that it switches from a water-attracting mode to a water-repelling one on command.
- Chemistry
Delivering the Goods
Experimental gene-delivery therapies generally use viruses to shuttle genetic material into cells, but some researchers are devising ways to avoid using the sometimes-risky viruses.
- Astronomy
Sugarcoated news arrives from space
Scientists spotted a simple sugar in interstellar space for the first time.
- Chemistry
Jet Streams: Droplet behavior captured by high-speed camera
A series of images has captured charged droplets spouting microscopic jets of fluid, a phenomenon that was proposed by Lord Rayleigh in 1882.
- Chemistry
Soy and oat combo protects against UV
Soybean oil and a natural chemical in oat bran have been chemically combined to make a new sunscreen.
- Materials Science
Fracture Protection: Nanotubes toughen up ceramics
The addition of carbon nanotubes to a ceramic material dramatically improves its fracture resistance.
- Materials Science
Carbon nanotubes beam electrons
Researchers have taken a step toward using carbon nanotubes as electron sources in devices such as high-resolution electron microscopes.
- Materials Science
Gold Deposits: Scientists design nanoparticle films
In a step toward a cheaper, easier way to connect computer chips to computers, scientists have patterned semiconductors with a film of extremely small gold particles.
