All Stories
- Tech
Biological transistor built for living computers
DNA-based switches could be used in diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
- Life
Eye drops reduce signs of macular degeneration in mice
Targeting cholesterol in retina stops rogue blood vessel growth often seen in the vision disease.
- Physics
Quantum cryptography takes flight
Successful reading of photon beam sent from airplane may one day lead to encrypted satellite communications.
- Psychology
Babies’ flexible squeals may enable them to talk later
Language evolution might have fed off infants’ ability to use certain sounds to express various emotions.
- Health & Medicine
Bird flu infects three in China
The H7N9 influenza virus has sickened three people, killing two, in first known human infections.
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Humankind’s destructive streak may be older than the species itself
Some scientists have proposed designating a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, that would cover the period since humans became the predominant environmental force on the planet. But when would you have it begin? Some geologists argue that the Anthropocene began with the Industrial Revolution, when fossil fuel consumption started influencing climate. Others point back several […]
- Earth
In Antarctica, melting may beget ice
Disintegration of floating glaciers could be responsible for freezing of seawater.
- Physics
Sound cloaks enter the third dimension
Concept could lead to sonar-defeating submarines or noise-cancelling highway barriers.
- Earth
Fungi pull carbon into northern forest soils
Organisms living on tree roots do the lion’s share of sequestering carbon.
- Animals
Termites, not fairies, cause plant circles in African deserts
Underground insect engineers create water traps in the soil, allowing rings of green grasses in the sand.
- Earth
Kansas was unbearably hot 270 million years ago
Temperatures soared to nearly 74 degrees Celsius, which no plants or animals could endure.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis C drug goes after patients’ RNA
An experimental medicine that targets a type of RNA in the liver leads to reduced virus levels in patients.
