Life
- Chemistry
Human waste could power plastic-making in space
Someday recycled urine and exhaled breath could feed specially engineered yeast to make plastics and other useful chemicals on long space missions.
- Health & Medicine
Human cells form the basis of this artificial eye
Real or fake — you be the judge. Human cells were used to create this test bed for studying both the eye and eye-disease therapies.
- Life
Defining a dinosaur is now far harder
New fossil finds are making it difficult to say for certain what makes dinosaurs unique.
- Animals
Fish get pooped living in polluted water
Living in polluted water can tire fish out, a new study finds. This can make it harder for them to find food and avoid being eaten, themselves, by predators.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Zooplankton
These plankton are tiny, but don’t let that fool you. They are predators, too.
- Health & Medicine
Hairy nanoparticles put viruses in a deadly embrace
Current drugs can’t stop viruses for good. But newly developed hairy nanoparticles just might. They surround and put pressure on the viruses, which ultimately destroys them.
- Microbes
Most Americans would welcome a microbial E.T.
People are more likely to welcome than be scared by new evidence pointing to extraterrestrial life, Americans report — at least if the E.T.’s are tiny.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Triclosan
This chemical is known for its bacteria-killing skills. But its use can also promote the development of dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- Animals
Woodpecker brains host protein linked with human brain damage
Woodpeckers peck with a force great enough to give people concussions. Now a study shows that birds, too, may suffer some brain damage.
- Brain
Unlike adults, teens don’t perform better when the stakes are high
Adults tend to do better on tasks that have bigger rewards. Not teens. This difference might have to do with the rewiring of the brain during adolescence, new data suggest.
- Animals
Rising carbon dioxide could leave tiny lake dwellers defenseless
Rising carbon dioxide in freshwater lakes may change how predators and prey interact.
- Animals
Blooms on ‘chocolate’ tree are crazy-hard to pollinate
The cacao trees must be pollinated or those seeds that give us chocolate will never form. The rub: The trees’ flowers challenge all but some of the tiniest pollen-moving insects.
