All Stories by Sarah Williams
- Astronomy
Twinkle, Twinkle: Dark matter may have lit up first stars
The earliest stars in the universe might have been fueled by dark matter instead of nuclear fusion.
- Health & Medicine
A Different Side of Estrogen
Understanding estrogen's function is complicated by the fact that it can bind to two distinct receptors; scientists studying the second receptor now think that drugs targeting it could help a wide variety of ailments.
- Astronomy
Black Hole Bully: Galaxy blasts its smaller neighbor
A distant galaxy is shooting a deadly jet of radiation at a neighboring galaxy, astronomers have observed.
- Earth
Dead Serious
Little progress has been made this decade in reducing the size of the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, a massive area of oxygen-depleted water caused by agricultural and urban runoff.
- Astronomy
Stellar Opposites: Sky survey reveals new halo of stars
The Milky Way galaxy possesses a distinct outer halo that orbits in the opposite direction from its inner halo and the rest of the galaxy.
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Perchlorate Pump: Molecule draws contaminant into breast milk
A molecular pump meant to transport iodine also concentrates perchlorate, an environmental pollutant, in breast milk.
- Planetary Science
Sister Planet: Mission to Venus reveals watery past
The Venus Express probe has found evidence that Venus once had more water than it does today, and has provided new measurements of the weather on Venus, proof of lightning on the planet, and signs of a formerly unknown hot spot near its south pole.
- Paleontology
A toothy smile
Nigersaurus boasted more than 500 teeth, arranged in rows across its mouth.
- Tech
A smaller magnetometer
A novel sensor the size of a rice grain can detect magnetic fields as small as those produced by brain or heart waves.
- Health & Medicine
Superbug: What makes one bacterium so deadly
A molecule that pierces immune cells gives some aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria their fearsome virulence.
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Not Like Clockwork: High-fat diet disrupts daily routines of mice
Fatty diets disrupt the sleep and metabolic cycles of mice by changing the activity of genes.
- Health & Medicine
Mother Knows All
Fragments of a fetus' genetic material that leak into a pregnant woman's bloodstream reveal details of early fetal development.
