CLOSER LOOK AT PHOSPHORENE Sheets of phosphorous just one atom thick have a ridged structure, as shown in this illustration. Graphene sheets, which are made of carbon, are flat.
P. Ye
UP IN THE AIR Clouds can both warm and cool the planet. How clouds will respond to global warming is the largest source of uncertainty in climate change predictions.
NASA
STAR RIVERS The galaxy ESO 137-001, 200 million light-years away, leaves trails (shown in blue in this false-color Hubble Space Telescope image) of gas and newly born stars as it plows through the Norma Cluster. Bright stars in the foreground sit within our galaxy.
Ming Sun/UAH, Serge Meunier, NASA, ESA
LURKER The twitches that let a European garden spider know that lunch has landed may not be as easy to detect if strands of its web anchor to human-made materials.
kellylovesphotography/iStockphoto
DEAD GALAXY The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5044, seen in this composite image, is filled with cold gas, yet it is not making stars. New research suggests a black hole may be to blame. The galaxy is filled with threads of warm hydrogen gas (red) that snake through an atmosphere of hot gas (blue). Stars appear white.
Digitized Sky Survey, Chandra/NASA , Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research, Very Large Array
Science News
News in Brief
MS milder when patients begin with higher vitamin D levels
Multiple sclerosis patients with low concentrations of vitamin D early in their disease have more nerve damage several years later.
Science News Blogs
News
Elephants can tell men’s voices from women’s
Amboseli elephants may pick out age and gender — and even distinguish between languages — when listening to human voices.
Sponsor Message
It's Alive
Pelican spiders: slow, safe assassins
Spiders, thank goodness, haven’t evolved assassin drones. But the specialized hunters of the family Archaeidae can kill at a distance.
Feature
The addiction paradox
Addiction is often seen as a chronic disease that requires maintenance treatment even after years of sobriety. But even without help, most addicts eventually can quit for good.
News in Brief
Shifting grains may explain earthquake lightning
Mysterious lightning before or during earthquakes could get its spark from underground shifting.
Feature
Cloudy forecast
Over decades climatologists have grown more confident in their projections of the future impact of greenhouse gas emissions. But whether shifts in cloudiness will amplify global warming continues to vex researchers.
News
Comets collide around young star
Astronomers detect clouds of carbon monoxide around Beta Pictoris that could help lead to the discovery of new planets.
Introducing
Power-packed bacterial spores generate electricity
With mighty bursts of rehydration, bacterial spores offer a new source of renewable energy.
News
Domestic violence arrests may be counterproductive
Mandatory arrest laws may increase mortality rates, especially among employed black women.
Science Visualized
A tiny ocean vortex, with pop art pizzazz
Coral polyps kick up a whirling vortex of water by whipping their hairlike cilia back and forth in the photography winner of the 2013 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.
News in Brief
Material’s magnetism tuned by temperature
Layered substance may lead to more reliable hard drives in the future.
Note: To comment, Science News subscribing members must now establish a separate login relationship with Disqus. Click the Disqus icon below, enter your e-mail and click “forgot password” to reset your password. You may also log into Disqus using Facebook, Twitter or Google.
X