More Stories from the May 4, 2013 issue
- Life
Microbes flourish at deepest ocean site
At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, eleven kilometers down, bacteria prosper despite crushing pressure and isolation.
- Life
How mammals grow ears: With a flaw
A newly discovered rupture-and-repair process that occurs in embryos could explain a lot about infections and hearing defects.
- Life
Longhorn cattle ancestors came from Pakistan
New World breeds trace back to both major bovine lineages, genetic analysis shows.
- Life
Impending death alters crickets’ standards for mates
With a short time to live, parasite-infested females lose their preference for fast-chirping males.
- Life
Gut microbes may be behind weight loss after gastric bypass
Mice slim down after receiving bacteria transplanted from rodents that had the surgery.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis C drug goes after patients’ RNA
An experimental medicine that targets a type of RNA in the liver leads to reduced virus levels in patients.
- Life
Blind cave-dwelling fish also hard of hearing
Two species that live in the dark have worse hearing than do their surface-living cousins.
- Earth
Kansas was unbearably hot 270 million years ago
Temperatures soared to nearly 74 degrees Celsius, which no plants or animals could endure.
- Earth
Fungi pull carbon into northern forest soils
Organisms living on tree roots do the lion’s share of sequestering carbon.
- Earth
In Antarctica, melting may beget ice
Disintegration of floating glaciers could be responsible for freezing of seawater.
- Life
Eye drops reduce signs of macular degeneration in mice
Targeting cholesterol in retina stops rogue blood vessel growth often seen in the vision disease.
- Psychology
Babies’ flexible squeals may enable them to talk later
Language evolution might have fed off infants’ ability to use certain sounds to express various emotions.
- Tech
Biological transistor built for living computers
DNA-based switches could be used in diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
- Earth
How the West was done
The tectonic history of North America’s Pacific Rim gets even more jumbled.
- Physics
Cosmic ray detector confirms hints of dark matter
Space station-based instrument records high amount of antimatter seen in earlier experiments.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s plaque components fight inflammation
In mice, bits of proteins can treat condition resembling multiple sclerosis.
- Health & Medicine
Dream contents deciphered by computer
Similar brain patterns emerge when seeing an object and conjuring it during sleep.
- Psychology
Light found in cocaine addiction tunnel
Using lasers, scientists target a sluggish set of neurons in rats to ease drug compulsion.
- Climate
Rising carbon dioxide means more air turbulence
More jarring flights are likely, simulation suggests.
- Life
Dinosaur embryos were restless, speedy growers
Hundreds of fossils found in China suggest some unhatched dinos kicked their legs.
- Health & Medicine
2013 American Association for Cancer Research meeting
Highlights from the annual AACR meeting include ovulation’s impact on cancer risk and an experimental drug’s promising performance against leukemia.
- Chemistry
Malaria drug made by baker’s yeast
Fermentation process using bioengineered version of the fungus could become important new production method for artemisinin.
- Humans
Possible human ancestor in Australopithecus sediba
The hominid’s unusual build may place it in into humankind’s lineage.
- Climate
Cuts in some greenhouse gases could slow sea level rise
Methane, ozone and other short-lived pollutants have a big impact on ocean heights, simulation finds.
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Upcoming events
Science Future for May 4, 2013.
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SN Online
EARTH IN ACTION Learn about sinkhole science in Alex Witze’s column “Geologists develop weapons to combat that sinkhole feeling.” Courtesy of N. Thake ENVIRONMENT There’s good news for some corals in “Isolated coral reefs can regrow after bleaching.” DELETED SCENES Several new studies support claims of vitamin D’s health benefits. See “Vitamin D doesn’t disappoint.” […]
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Ginkgo: The Tree That Time Forgot by Peter Crane
An ancient tree lineage has survived and made its way into humans’ lives through medicine, art and as a popular street tree, yet is now endangered in the wild. Yale Univ., 2013, 384 p., $40
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- Particle Physics
Heart of Darkness
Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe (Science Essentials) by Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton.
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Weird Life: The Search for Life That Is Very, Very Different from Our Own by David Toomey
Organisms in extreme environments — from bacteria deep under the ocean floor to imagined creatures on distant moons — challenge definitions of life. W.W. Norton & Co., 2013, 268 p., $25.95
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BOOK REVIEW: Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald
Review by Nathan Seppa.
- Paleontology
My Beloved Brontosaurus
On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs by Brian Switek.
- Health & Medicine
The Human Brainome Project
Obama announces ambitious plan to develop new tools for exploring neural circuitry.
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- Planetary Science
Faint Young Sun
Scientists struggle to understand how early Earth stayed warm enough for liquid water.
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Letters to the editor
Faux pas on fashion In “Students honored for research,” (SN: 4/6/13, p. 28), the female winner got singled out as “decked out in a lavender satin dress.” Didn’t Hillary Clinton recently point out to an interviewer that he asked her about her clothes, whereas he wouldn’t ask a man that? What are you trying to […]
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New star dating method
Science Past from the issue of May 4, 1963.
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Red Rover: Inside the Story of Robotic Space Exploration, from Genesis to the Mars Rover Curiosity by Roger Wiens
The scientist in charge of Curiosity’s ChemCam instrument gives a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mars robot. Basic Books, 2013, 233 p., $25.99
