Uncategorized
- Microbes
How a germ killer could backfire
A common ingredient in toothpaste and hand sanitizers kills germs on contact. But it also can kill the helpful germs that make water safer.
- Fossils
Hot-blooded dinos? Try lukewarm
New study finds these reptiles may have had an internal furnace that sort of resembled some sharks. It appeared to run neither hot nor cold.
- Genetics
Owww! The science of pain
No one likes pain, but it keeps us alive. That’s why scientists want to learn how best to coexist with this complicated and still somewhat mysterious sensation.
- Physics
Hazing: How to hide in nearly plain sight
A new system takes advantage of a translucent fog of particles to hide otherwise obvious objects.
- Animals
Salted butterflies
The salt used on winter ice can alter the bodies of summer's butterflies. Males develop larger muscles and females get bigger brains.
- Brain
Hunger’s little helpers
Astrocytes were thought to be nothing more than support cells for neighboring nerve cells. A new study suggests they do much more. These brain cells may help control appetite, too.
- Space
Monster collision in space
The smashup of four clusters of galaxies has sent a super-hot jet of charged particles spewing 2.5 million light-years into space!
- Fossils
Fossil hunting can start as child’s play
Paleontology isn’t just for professionals. You don’t even need to be a teen to sometimes make startling — and scientifically important — contributions.
- Fossils
Explainer: How a fossil forms
Minerals can replace any bone, shell or once-living tissue and also fill in the spaces between these hard parts, birthing a fossil.
- Environment
Seeing red: North’s CO2 hits new peak
CO2 values are now 50 percent higher than before the Industrial Revolution.
- Planets
First mega-Earth found
Astronomers are puzzled by Kepler-10c. This exoplanet is rocky like Earth — but as massive as Neptune. And that challenges their accepted ideas about how planets form.
- Animals
A library with no books
The Macaulay Library at Cornell University has no books. Instead, the audio library has been accumulating sound recordings since 1929.
