All Stories
- Microbes
Gut microbes help packrats eat poison
Antiobiotics and fecal transplants in desert woodrats shown that gut microbes can help plant-eaters metabolize toxins.
- Ecosystems
Offshore wind farms may be seal feeding grounds
Harbor seals were tracked visiting offshore wind farms, probably to find food, researchers say.
- Earth
Sandstone structures form without cement
Lasting sandstone structures form when weighed-down sand locks into stable formations, researchers find in laboratory experiment.
- Planetary Science
Comet ISON fell apart earlier than realized
Comet ISON disintegrated at least eight hours before it grazed the surface of the sun last fall, new observations show.
- Quantum Physics
You shouldn’t try to pigeonhole quantum physics
A quantum analysis shows a way to violate math’s pigeonhole principle, by allowing three particles in two boxes with no two in the same box.
- Tech
Wax-coated plastic morphs between soft and stiff
Heat-controlled materials could serve as skeleton for shape-shifting robots.
- Health & Medicine
Organic foods may contain extra antioxidants
Contrary to previous studies, a new analysis finds that organic crops have nutritional benefits over conventionally grown foods.
- Climate
Cell phone towers monitor African rains
Scientists used cell phone towers to monitor African rains, a method that could track weather in regions without robust meteorological infrastructure.
- Health & Medicine
Pig heartbeats adjusted with gene therapy
A biological pacemaker created with gene therapy could may one day help people who cannot have implanted electrical pacemakers.
- Health & Medicine
First case of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus, acquired in U.S.
The case represents the first time that mosquitoes on the U.S. mainland have passed the virus to a person.
- Anthropology
Romanian cave holds some of the oldest human footprints
A group of Homo sapiens left footprints about 36,500 years ago, not 15,000 as scientists had thought.
- Psychology
To do your best, find a rival
There are rivals in every walk of life. A new study shows that for runners, a rival might help them do their best.
