DESIRABLE DINER A green hermit hummingbird has a long bill that can sip more nectar than other birds from the tropical plant Heliconia tortuosa, triggering the plant to start reproducing.
Matt Betts, Oregon State Univ.
FLEETING FOG Fog in coastal Los Angeles has become much less frequent due to nighttime warming caused by urbanization, new research suggests.
Angelo DeSantis/Flickr (CC by 2.0)
TAKING THE BAIT In an iron (FE) nanoparticle (blue) with an iron hydroxide shell containing oxygen (O, green), uranium (U, red) first takes the bait created by the shell and then is trapped inside the solid iron core.
Adapted with permission from L. Ling and W. Zhang/Journal of the American Chemical Society 2015
VACUUM ATTRACTION Fleeting electromagnetic waves nudge parallel plates together through a phenomenon called the Casimir effect, illustrated here. If the same thing works with gravitational waves, it could prove the existence of particles that transmit gravity.
Emok/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
TIGHT FIT The star Kepler 11 (illustrated) is home to six planets, five of which would fit inside the orbit of Mercury. Most solar systems might form with planets squished even closer together.
Tim Pyle/NASA
Science News
News in Brief
Secondhand smoke exposure in womb linked to eczema in childhood
Secondhand smoke exposure in the womb may heighten risk of eczema and other dermatitis in children, a study finds.
News
Sexual conflict in mosquitoes may have worsened spread of malaria
Sexual conflict in Anopheles mosquitoes may have intensified their power to fuel human malaria.
Sponsor Message
News in Brief
Beetle RNA makes crops a noxious meal
When beetles munch plants bearing their RNA, genes the bugs need to survive are turned off.
Feature
For athletes, antioxidant pills may not help performance
Supplements of vitamins C, E and other antioxidants may blunt the positive effects of exercise training.
Feature
Chronic stress can wreak havoc on the body
Scientists are shedding light on all the ways that chronic stress can boost inflammation and lead to serious health problems.
Feature
Six ways to beat chronic stress
Counseling, mindfulness training and purposeful social contact may counteract the effects of chronic stress.
News
Genetic tweaks built humans’ bigger brains
Genetic tweaks may make human brains big.
News
Bees may merge their flower memories
Bumblebees sometimes prefer fake flowers with the combined patterns and colors of ones seen before, suggesting they merge memories of past experiences.
News in Brief
Wheat reached England before farming
European hunter-gatherers may have traded for agricultural products 8,000 years ago.
The –est
Monster black hole lurks in the early universe
A black hole weighing the same as 12 billion suns is the most massive one known in the early universe.
News
Additives that keep foods fresh may sour in the gut
Additives called emulsifiers that are used in ice cream and other foods weaken the intestines’ defenses against bacteria, causing inflammation in mice.
News in Brief
Scientists confirm amassing CO2 heats Earth’s surface
Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide increase the amount of thermal radiation striking Earth’s surface.
News
Physicists double their teleportation power
In a teleportation first, physicists transfer two quantum properties from one photon to another.
Science Stats
Community protection against measles jeopardized
‘Herd immunity’ to measles may be threatened by low vaccination rates in some parts of the United States.