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FUNGUS AMONG US One genus of fungi (green and blue specks) colonizes most of human skin, including this hair follicle from a person's back. But more than 80 different groups reside on the feet. more >>Alex Valm, NHGRI
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COMMAND PERFORMANCE A border collie named Chaser participates in an experiment testing her ability to understand commands given before she can see any of the objects named in those directives. After hearing a four-word command, Chaser consistently turned around and carried the correct item from the head of the bed to the living room, where she placed it next the appropriate object. more >>Courtesy of J. Pilley
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WINNING SMILES Eesha Khare (left), Ionut Budisteanu (center) and Henry Wanjune Lin claimed the top prizes at the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. Budisteanu's work toward developing a self-driving car earned the 19-year-old Romanian inventor the $75,000 top prize. more >>Intel/Chris Ayers
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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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For house-hunting fungi, feet are prime real estate.
More than 80 different types of fungi make human feet home, researchers report May 22 in Nature. The tiny organisms stake claims all over a person’s skin, but only the feet carry such a diverse group of settlers, says study coauthor Julie Segre, a geneticist at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. 05.22.13 | more >>
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A catchall flu shot is a step closer to reality. Researchers report May 22 in Nature that they have engineered a vaccine that immunizes mice and ferrets against decades’ worth of influenza viruses. They say it could protect people for several years — and from many different flu viruses — without having to be reformulated and delivered annually the way current flu vaccines are. 05.22.13 | more >>
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NEWS IN BRIEF Complete genetic blueprints collected for several conifer species 05.22.13 | more >>
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Chaser isn’t just a 9-year-old border collie with her breed’s boundless energy, intense focus and love of herding virtually anything. She’s a grammar hound. 05.21.13 | more >>
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The last thing most people would want in their bodies is mucus laden with viruses. But a new study suggests that viruses called bacteriophages, or phages, grab onto mucus and then infect and kill invasive bacteria. The finding, reported May 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Forest Rohwer of San Diego State University and colleagues, could mean that some viruses ... 05.20.13 | more >>
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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 >>
