More Stories from the October 6, 2012 issue
- Earth
Antibacterial agent can weaken muscle
Triclosan impairs the power of the heart and other muscles in two species and at relatively low doses.
- Earth
Nanosized pollutants pose crop risks
Nanoparticles in exhaust and common consumer products can end up in soil and harm the growth and health of crops.
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- Life
Average bear could be pretty smart
Computer tests of solitary species reveal animals’ ability to learn concepts.
- Life
Oldest mites in amber discovered
Two new species of arthropods found in 230-million-year-old fossilized resin show similarities to modern-day species.
- Health & Medicine
Infrared light offers promise of laser-sharp cancer therapy
Laser technique targets tumors with reduced risk of side effects compared with conventional chemotherapy.
- Tech
Unmixing oil and water
A new filter that separates the two substances only using gravity could help clean oil spills.
- Earth
Arctic sea ice hits record low, and keeps going
A summer storm and thinner ice probably contributed to this year’s massive melt.
- Space
Exoplanet pair orbits two stars
The Kepler spacecraft catches two exoplanets around a binary star system, with one planet in the habitable zone.
- Health & Medicine
Brain learns while you snooze
Mind can make associations between smells and sounds during sleep.
- Space
Highlights from the IAU Meeting
A collection of reports from the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, Beijing.
- Health & Medicine
Low-cal longevity questioned
Limited food intake in rhesus monkeys fails to extend the animals’ survival, in a departure from earlier reports.
- Space
Stars’ missing elements could signal lurking small planets
The sun's chemistry suggests some good other places to hunt for rocky orbs.
- Chemistry
Big jobs go to loyal proteins
Cells offload much of their nonessential work on enzymes that juggle a number of tasks.
- Space
Another potentially habitable world emerges
The newfound planet orbits a common type of dwarf star, suggesting even more may be out there.
- Health & Medicine
Military combat marks the brain
Regions involved in memory and attention changed after soldiers' deployment, though most eventually returned to their pre-combat state.
- Earth
Earth & Environment
Soot’s contributions to global warming may be overestimated, and unusual source of oceans’ methane discovered.
- Life
Team releases sequel to the human genome
ENCODE reveals the machinery that switches genes on and off.
- Chemistry
Water boils sans bubbles
Insulating steam keeps a superhot object from splattering the soup.
- Neuroscience
Nonstick trick in the brain
Getting drugs into the brain has proved to be a nanoscale puzzle: Anything bigger than 64 nanometers — about the size of a small virus — gets stuck in the space between brain cells once it gets through the blood-brain barrier. Justin Hanes of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and colleagues got around this rule by coating particles destined for brain cells in a dense layer of a polymer called polyethylene glycol.
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Science Future for the issue of October 6, 2012
October 13–31 Aspiring scientists of all ages can light up a jack-o’-lantern with chemistry, make slime or dissect a cow eye at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. See the Spooky Science series at bit.ly/SFspooky October 30 An astrophysicist discusses how scientists find and study planets orbiting other stars at the Hayden Planetarium in […]
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SN Online
HUMANS Some judges may be more lenient when criminals offer biological explanations for their behavior. See “Psychopaths get time off for bad brains.” NASA, ESA, Sean Farrell/Sydney Institute for Astronomy ATOM & COSMOSAstronomers see a black hole pick up its matter-sucking activity right on schedule. Read “Black hole’s annual feast begins.” BODY & BRAIN Changing […]
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- Animals
Face Smarts
Macaques, sheep and even wasps may join people as masters at facial recognition.
- Health & Medicine
Tricks Foods Play
Most people would never equate downing a well-dressed salad or a fried chicken thigh with toking a joint of marijuana. But to Joseph Hibbeln of the National Institutes of Health, the comparison isn’t a big stretch.
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- Paleontology
The Last Lost World
Ice Ages, Human Origins, and the Invention of the Pleistocene, by Lydia V. Pyne and Stephen J. Pyne.
