Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Melatonin
Levels of this hormone rise at night when we are asleep and drop during the day. This helps to control when we sleep and wake up.
- Earth
Surprise! Fire can help some forests keep more of their water
In California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, a century of fire suppression has led to forests with too many trees. But areas thinned by fire now show one benefit: more water.
- Earth
Scientist tackles water pollution with epic swims
German chemist Andreas Fath swam the entire Tennessee River — in record time. The reason was not to win a place in the Guinness Book of Records. He wanted to raise awareness about water pollution.
- Tech
Getting road-trip ready, and no driver needed
Most self-driving cars are city drivers. This one’s made for the open road.
- Chemistry
Diamonds and more suggest unusual origins for asteroids
Inside a meteorite, scientists found sulfur and iron wrapped in tiny diamonds. Those gems hint the rock formed inside a long-lost planet.
- Math
Supreme Court shies away from test on the math of voting rights
Mathematicians are taking aim at gerrymandering — drawing election district maps that seek to benefit one party over another. The courts have become involved too.
- Animals
Deep-sea expedition led researchers to doomed octopus nursery
The ill-fated octopods may be a sign that a healthy population is hiding nearby.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Kakapo
This is a flightless parrot that lives in New Zealand. Unfortunately, there are only 154 of them left.
- Chemistry
This plastic can be recycled over and over and over
A new kind of plastic is fully recyclable: Unlike current plastics, it breaks down into the exact same molecules from which it was made.
- Materials Science
Photons map the atomic scale to help medicine and more
At a big lab outside Chicago, a gigantic beam of speedy electrons is helping researchers fight diseases, build better electronics and more.
- Health & Medicine
Worms in the gut keep mice from getting plump on high-fat food
Parasites kept mice from gaining weight on a high-fat diet. But receiving transplants of immune cells from these wormy mice also halted weight gain in mice without worms.
- Microbes
Analyze This: These viruses are behemoths
Scientists keep finding larger and larger viruses. Just how big can these microbes get?
