All Stories
- Physics
The electric flour voltage test
Granular materials give off a zap just before slipping, a finding with potential implications for sensing the starts of silo disasters or earthquakes.
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- Life
Invasive mite worsens honeybee viruses
Once-obscure deformed wing virus swept to prominence in honeybee colonies in Hawaiian islands as invasive pest arrived.
- Life
Microbes flourish under Arctic sea ice
Oceanographic expedition surprised to find photosynthetic microorganisms thriving under frozen surface.
- Tech
Court ‘shares’ researchers’ e-mails, intellectual property
“A situation has arisen involving scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) that should concern all those who value the principles of academic freedom and responsibility,” warns top WHOI officials. They were responding to a court order requiring that two WHOI scientists turn over 3,500 emails and other documents to BP. Included in the information was intellectual property that outsiders could exploit.
- Space
Some newfound planets are something else
A re-evaluation of the Kepler mission’s data suggests one in three hot giant orbs it discovered is actually another kind of object.
- Health & Medicine
Replacing fatty acids may fight MS
Patients are deficient in four key lipids that neutralize immune cells linked to inflammation and nerve damage.
- Health & Medicine
Why antipsychotics need time to kick in
Insight into how some schizophrenia drugs work may explain why compounds that build up in the brain can take weeks to provide relief.
- Earth
Arctic’s wintry blanket can be warming
Forested snowscapes keep northern soils relatively toasty, diminishing how much climate-warming carbon they can sequester from the atmosphere.
- Animals
How a mosquito survives a raindrop hit
Lightweight insects can ride a water droplet, as long as they separate from it before hitting the ground.
- Life
Ancient birds wiped out huge insects
Competition in the air trumped the advantage of extra atmospheric oxygen.
- Life
Antiaging protein helps set daily rhythms
Changing levels of sirtuin in the brain alter activity patterns in mice.
