All Stories by Patrick Barry
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Cells’ Root: Adult stem cells have a master gene
Scientists have found a master gene that allows tissue-regenerating stem cells to retain their regenerative capacity.
- Physics
The Hunt for Antihelium
Scientists have been searching about 30 years for a single nucleus of helium made from antimatter, and although the discovery would imply that whole antimatter galaxies exist, the researchers' time could be running out.
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Talk to the Hand: Language might have evolved from gestures
Language might have evolved from hand gestures, say researchers who study communication in chimpanzees.
- Earth
Pregnancy and Pollution: Women living in areas with poor air quality have babies with lower birthweights
Pregnant women exposed even to moderate amounts of several common air pollutants tend to have babies with low birthweights.
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Female Stem Cells Flourish: Sex difference could affect therapies
Certain adult stem cells from female mice regenerate better than those from males, indicating that not all stem cells are created equal.
- Tech
Pictures Posing Questions
Radical new forms of photography use computation to transcend the limits of traditional cameras.
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Family Feud: Genetic arms race between parents benefits male offspring in a surprising way
A gene in mice that benefits the father at the mother's expense appears to help offspring of both sexes.
- Earth
Young and Restless: Ancient Earth shows moving crust
The oldest rocks in the world show that Earth's shifting crust began its tectonic movements almost 4 billion years ago.
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New Memory Manager: DNA silencer also controls memory formation
A surprising finding links memory formation to a process of shutting down genes in growing embryos.
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Living Long on Less? Mouse and human cells respond to slim diets
Some animals live longer on reduced-calorie diets, and in a recent experiment people on such diets had many of the cellular changes that those long-lived animals did.
- Earth
DNA pinpoints poached ivory tusks
Scientists tracked the origin of an illegal ivory shipment to Zambia by using an improved DNA-analysis technique to study the confiscated tusks.
- Materials Science
The New Black: A nanoscale coating reflects almost no light
A "carpet" of microscopic filaments sprayed onto a surface can prevent it from reflecting light, a potentially useful trait for technologies from solar cells to fiber-optic communications.
