Uncategorized
- Earth
Ancient ocean linked to supercontinent’s breakup
The supercontinent Pangaea started breaking apart 200 million years ago. This may have been triggered by the shrinking of the Tethys Ocean, a new study finds.
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America’s top teen scientists
The Intel Science Talent Search is America’s top high school science competition. This year, the top finishers took home more than $1 million in prizes.
- Physics
How to pick up messages after they’re gone
By watching for light’s ‘echoes,’ physicists think they can retrieve information being relayed by or as light. It could make it possible for astronomers to view distant objects without having to see the light they cast off.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Circadian
We often feel the pull of sleep when the sun goes down. Light and our own biology put us into a regular, 24-hour rhythm that has its own word.
- Animals
Where an ant goes when it’s gotta go
The black garden ant has been spotted defecating inside its own nest. Scientists now characterize these spots as ant toilets.
- Earth
News Brief: Volcanic spark zaps ash to glass
The lightning associated with some erupting volcanoes can be quite crafty — turning ash into lots of microscopic glass beads.
- Physics
Science in Hollywood
Audiences are getting smarter, so the makers of movies, TV shows and video games are responding by enlisting scientists to make everything on screen appear even more authentic.
- Climate
Buildings may be chasing L.A.’s fog away
Roads and buildings that have mushroomed up around Los Angeles in the past half-century. Now, a study finds they may have created conditions that limit fog. And that could further dry out this very arid part of America’s West Coast.
- Health & Medicine
How hot peppers can soothe pain
Peppers can burn the tongue, but soothe sore tissues. Scientists have now sleuthed out how, and the answer shows a role for stretch sensors on cells.
- Animals
Penguins? How tasteless
Penguins may look all dressed up in tuxedo-wear, but their taste buds are the bare minimum. This means that the birds will never sense more than a hint of their meals’ true flavors.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Blood-brain barrier
Blood can contain nasty bacteria and other things you want to keep away from your delicate brain. The blood-brain barrier is up to the job.
- Animals
Eyelashes: The ‘sweet’ length
New mathematical and aerodynamics studies find what seems to be the optimal length for eyelashes — the length that protects best. And surprise: Longer is not always better.
