All Stories
- Microbes
Microbes floating among clouds may munch on sugar
Floating in a cloud and noshing sweets while wrapped in a cozy bubble sounds like a pleasant dream. For some lucky bacteria, it may be a reality.
- Neuroscience
Main protein for sensing touch identified in mammals
A close look at how mice respond to touch has helped scientists pinpoint the protein, called Piezo2, that makes mammals feel the sensation.
- Materials Science
Carbon supplants silicon in electronic medical sensors
Prototypes of electronic medical devices constructed from organic materials are noninvasive yet offer similar performance as silicon-based health sensors.
-
- Planetary Science
Preparing for disaster, celebrating success
Science cannot prevent all disasters or solve all the problems they spawn, but it can point to the best ways to prepare, making disasters less damaging than they might otherwise be
- Health & Medicine
Old drug reduces herpes symptoms, spread in animal tests
The antidepressant tranylcypromine might also work as antiviral against herpes, animal studies suggest.
- Astronomy
Starlight robs galaxy of stellar ingredients
Light from newborn stars drives gas out of a distant galaxy, a process that may prevent future stars from being born.
- Archaeology
Human ancestors engraved abstract patterns
Indonesian Homo erectus carved zigzags on a shell at least 430,000 years ago.
- Cosmology
Most precise snapshot of the universe unveiled
New results from the Planck satellite provide the most detailed look yet of the makeup of the universe.
- Tech
Designing robots to help in a disaster
Ideally, robots could take over for human crews in disaster zones. But seemingly simple tasks, such as walking, communicating and staying powered up, still pose big challenges.
- Animals
Platypuses are full of mystery
With duck bills, webbed feet and venomous spikes, platypuses are one of the weirdest animals you’ll ever be lucky enough to see.
- Earth
Studying a volcano in a war zone
New isotope analyses offer bad news for the people of Goma, a burgeoning city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Mount Nyiragongo may be more dangerous than expected.
