Two new studies confirm that Earth's core formed in a hurry—during the first 30 million years after the solar system's birth. (p. 131)

A new study in mice suggests that cyclopamine, a plant derivative that causes birth defects in animals, can inhibit medulloblastoma, a brain cancer in children. (p. 131)

An experiment designed by a botany professor to last longer than his own life has demonstrated that seeds of two common flowers still sprout and blossom despite more than a century in a bottle. (p. 132)

Anesthesia's sedative effect may depend on activating sleep circuits in the brain. (p. 132)

Scientists have pinned down the molecular basis of the gecko's astonishing ability to scamper up polished walls and hang from ceilings, paving the way for a new type of synthetic dry adhesive. (p. 133)

Investigators used ordinary integrated-circuit fabrication techniques to pattern arrays of silicon-based transistors onto a flat, deformable sheet of plastic. (p. 133)

A new antibacterial coating may allow contact lenses to remain in a person's eyes for up to 3 months. (p. 134)

A controversial new study suggests that people use statistical regularities in language to recognize individual words but not to discern rules for word construction. (p. 134)

Researchers are gathering evidence that inflammation precedes and predicts diabetes. (p. 136)

In a universe dominated by a mysterious antigravity force, dubbed dark energy, distant galaxies will eventually recede from each other faster than the speed of light and observers in our Milky Way some 50 billion years from now will see only a handful of other galaxies in the sky. (p. 139)

Astronomers have taken what appears to be the sharpest image of the moon ever recorded from Earth. (p. 141)

Cooking sweet corn increases its disease-fighting antioxidant activity, despite decreasing its vitamin C content. (p. 141)

Researchers have shown that a drug may shepherd a mutated protein—gone astray in people with cystic fibrosis—into its proper place. (p. 141)

A new method for gaze-operated, hands-free text entry is faster and more accurate than using an on-screen keyboard. (p. 141)

Korean investigators have identified a compound that suppresses the immune system of animals. (p. 142)

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a high-resolution image of an object that looks like a giant hamburger. (p. 142)

Mail irradiation in Washington, D.C. is damaging valuable objects and documents intended for scientific study or archiving at the Smithsonian, the White House, and other government organizations. (p. 142)

A new method for making bone cement could simplify hip and knee replacements and improve the surgeries' outcomes. (p. 142)