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BIG GENOME Loblolly pine trees (shown) are used for lumber, paper and many other products. Scientists have compiled the organism’s genome, the largest ever attempted. more >>National Park Service (NPS); U.S. Department of the Interior
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FLORAL DISPLAY Red flowerlike structures grew on green spiral stems. Scientists can grow such structures from minerals by carefully manipulating pH, temperature and carbon dioxide concentration. This micrograph is false colored but reflects the structure's actual colors. more >>Courtesy of Wim Noorduin
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THAWING OUT Melting of the world's glaciers (Argentina's Upsala Glacier, shown) contributed 29 percent of sea level rise from 2003 to 2009, a new analysis finds. more >>Courtesy of Etienne Berthier
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CLONING FEAT Using a laser and a tiny needle, researchers suck DNA from a human egg, the first step of a newly revised process that created human embryonic stem cells for the first time. more >>Courtesy of M. Tachibana
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True Greenhouse Gases Researchers used greenhouses to artificially warm tundra (shown, in autumn) for 20 years. They found no net change in the amount of carbon stored in the soil. more >>Sadie Iverson
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NEWS IN BRIEF New cell-based computers do division and logarithms the old-fashioned way 05.17.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF An enormous tree's enormous genome, genes for strong-swimming sperm and more presented May 7-11 in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. 05.16.13 | more >>
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More evidence has just dropped into place suggesting that frogs once imported to the United States for pregnancy testing could have spread a fungus deadly to many native amphibian species. 05.16.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Minerals assemble on demand into tiny, complex shapes like flowers 05.16.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Easy technique uses inexpensive equipment to make three-dimensional rendering 05.16.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Thawing ice contributes nearly as much water to oceans as massive sheets at poles do 05.16.13 | more >>
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The telescope that has discovered thousands of exotic, quirky worlds — and a few tantalizingly Earthlike ones — orbiting distant stars is no longer capable of finding planets, at least temporarily and probably for good. Officials with NASA’s $600-million Kepler space telescope announced May 15 that an essential piece of hardware on the spacecraft has failed. 05.15.13 | more >>
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The notoriously crafty parasite that causes malaria may have yet another trick up its sleeve scientists have learned: It makes mosquitoes that carry it more attracted to human body odor, a new study suggests. Compared with noninfected mosquitoes, those carrying Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous of the parasites that carry malaria,visited a fabric covered with a person’s sweat far ... 05.15.13 | more >>
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VIEW THE VIDEO For the first time, scientists have created human embryonic stem cells by transferring the nucleus of a mature cell into an egg. The cloning technique could nudge the dream of personalized medicine closer to reality, researchers suggest May 15 in Cell. 05.15.13 | more >>
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A low-energy alternative to traditional lasers is finally available in plug-in form, a crucial step toward developing a practical alternative to the comparatively inefficient devices in use today. These so-called polariton lasers could soon find a niche in telecommunications and medical applications. 05.15.13 | more >>
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COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. – Taming foxes changes not only the animals’ behavior but also their brain chemistry, a new study shows. 05.15.13 | more >>
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The oldest known fossils of an ape and a monkey have been uncovered, providing an intriguing glimpse of a crucial time in primate evolution. 05.15.13 | more >>
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Drilling more than two kilometers into the ground beneath Canada, geologists have struck scientific gold: pockets of flowing water isolated underground for at least 1.5 billion years and perhaps as long as 2.64 billion years. 05.15.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Element could stay locked in soil, 20-year study suggests 05.15.13 | more >>
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The disruption of sleep and other bodily rhythms that often accompanies clinical depression may leave a mark on the brain. A study of gene activity in the brains of people who suffered from depression reveals that their daily clocks were probably out of whack. The results appear May 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 05.14.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Dental stem cells enable the reptile to grow new teeth every year 05.13.13 | more >>
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A new fire-retardant coating suppresses flames without the toxic effects of some commercially used flame retardants. Torch a piece of furniture foam that’s been dipped in the coating and the flame smolders and snuffs out, new experiments show. 05.13.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Micaria sociabilis may choose to have older female for lunch, not sex 05.13.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF At 400 parts per million, greenhouse gas concentration is now higher than it has been for millions of years 05.10.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Chance more than doubled that capital city will soon experience big temblor 05.10.13 | more >>
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Same genes, same environment, different behavior.
Identical twin mice sharing the same mazelike environment develop distinct personalities based on how much they explore their surroundings, researchers report in the May 10 Science. After death, those differences were reflected in the animals’ brains. 05.09.13 | more >>
