Uncategorized
- Tech
Biometrics: New IDs that are uniquely you
Fingerprints are so last century. Computers soon may start identifying people by their eyebrows, heartbeats or even networks of blood vessels under the skin.
- Physics
Bracing sand sculptures with gravity
Natural sculptures of sandstone withstand strong winds and rains. The reason, a new study concludes: Gravity holds the sand grains together.
- Brain
Lacrosse: Different genders, same injuries
Scientists find that boys’ and girls’ versions of lacrosse lead to similar injuries. Because girls frequently get concussions, the study argues that like the boys, girls too should wear helmets.
- Health & Medicine
Clay: A new way to fight germs?
Geologists have discovered a type of volcanic clay that shows promise in fighting infections — maybe even ones resistant to antibiotic medicines.
- Chemistry
Chemistry: Green and clean
“Green” means environmentally friendly and sustainable. Green chemistry creates products and processes that are safer and cleaner — from the start.
- Environment
Explainer: What are endocrine disruptors?
Some chemicals can act like hormones, turning on or off important processes in cells. That can harm development or even trigger disease.
- Health & Medicine
Screen time: Most U.S. teens overindulge
Too many 12- to 15-year olds spend hours each day doing little more than pushing buttons on the TV remote or a computer’s keyboard, a government survey finds.
- Animals
Elephants appear to be super sniffers
Elephants are not only massive, but also possess the most odor-detecting genes of any animal known, new research shows.
- Environment
Bug-killer linked to decline in birds
One of the most popular chemicals used to protect crops from bugs may also take a toll on birds, a Dutch study finds. U.S. farmers also rely on these insecticides, a second study finds.
- Microbes
The Bahamas’ African roots
Ocean bacteria may have built the Bahama islands, fed by dust blown across the Atlantic from the Sahara Desert.
- Genetics
High-altitude help from extinct ancestors
The Tibetan plateau is high in altitude but low in oxygen. An unusual version of one gene in Tibetans' DNA helps them survive this environment. And that gene appears to have been passed along from Denisovans, a Neandertal-like ancestor.
- Fossils
Some Arctic dinos lived in herds
Fossil footprints retrieved from Alaska indicate that plant-eating duckbill dinos not only traveled as extended families but also spent their entire lives in the Arctic.
