Science Ticker

Astronomy

Dust cloud, tail could explain exoplanet’s odd light pattern

KIC 12557548 b may be ejecting dust from its surface, creating a cometlike tail behind it and an opaque envelope of material around it.

Health & Medicine

Chilling body doesn’t stop bacterial infection

Lowering the body temperature of individuals with severe bacterial meningitis may not help to improve patients’ health and could do more harm than good.

Health & Medicine

Starting exercise late in life still helps with aging

Becoming and staying active as an older individual can lead to a more years without long-term health conditions.

Genetics

DNA changes may show how whales adapted to water

Comparing the genetic material of whales has revealed DNA changes that may have helped the animals adapt to aquatic environments.

Paleontology

New dinosaur species joins ranks of giant carnivores

The newly named Siats meekerorum probably roamed what is now Utah about 98 million years ago terrorizing the ancestors of T. rex.

Humans

Babies may have basic body perception at birth

Newborns may enter the world with the basic systems to distinguish their bodies from those of other people.

Astronomy

Bright gamma-ray burst tests idea of event’s origins

High-energy light particles suggest that physicists need to revise their theories explaining the origin of these cosmic blasts.

Life

Only two Y chromosome genes needed for viable mouse sperm

Healthy and fertile mice were born from embryos created using spermlike cells.

Animals

Malformed frogs rarer than thought

Frogs with skin cysts or shortened or missing legs make up only 2 percent of the amphibians collected during a 10-year study.

Astronomy

Jet from Milky Way’s giant black hole shows itself

Life

Blood clotting disorder blocked in dogs

Gene therapy stopped severe bleeding in dogs with the blood clotting disorder hemophilia.

Health & Medicine

Cage temps change tumor growth in mice

Cooler living conditions may influence lab mice's responses to experimental cancer therapies that target the immune system.