All Stories
- Physics
Precision measurement of antimatter made
The charge of antihydrogen atoms is essentially neutral, even out to eight decimal places, a new precision measurement made at CERN shows.
- Chemistry
Decay of Leonardo da Vinci drawing reflected in light
Light that bounces off a Leonardo da Vinci drawing, widely considered a self-portrait, has revealed extensive chemical damage that causes yellowing.
- Astronomy
Rocky, overweight planet shakes up theories
Kepler-10c is a rocky exoplanet 17 times as massive as Earth, and astronomers are puzzled as to how it formed.
- Life
A new twist on a twist
Nature abounds with perfect helices. They show up in animal horns and seashells, in DNA and the young tendrils of plants. But helix formation can get complicated: In some cases, the direction of rotation can reverse as a helix grows.
- Animals
Why tree-hugger koalas are cool
Drooping against bark during a heat wave could save koalas from overheating.
- Neuroscience
Stress and the susceptible brain
Some of us bounce back from stress, while others never really recover. A new study shows that different brain activity patterns could make the difference.
- Health & Medicine
Health risks of e-cigarettes emerge
Research uncovers a growing list of chemicals that end up in an e-cigarette user’s lungs, and one study finds that an e-cigarette’s vapors can increase the virulence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- Genetics
Blind mole-rats are loaded with anticancer genes
Genes of the long-lived blind mole-rat help explain how the animal evades cancer and why it lost vision.
- Chemistry
Bacteria take plants to biofuel in one step
Engineered bacterium singlehandedly dismantles tough switchgrass molecules, making sugars that it ferments to make ethanol.
- Animals
Beware the pregnant scorpion
Female striped bark scorpions are pregnant most of the time. That makes them fat, slow and really mean.
- Microbes
Irish potato famine microbe traced to Mexico
The pathogen that triggered the Irish potato famine in the 1840s originated in central Mexico, not the Andes, as some studies had suggested.
- Science & Society
Outgoing congressman Rush Holt calls scientists to action
The New Jersey physicist has decided not to run for re-election but is a proponent of scientists in office.
