All Stories
- Animals
Zebra finches go mad with mercury, and other animal updates
Mercury exposure makes zebra finches bold and hyperactive, and additional research from the 2014 Animal Behavior Society Meeting.
- Environment
Fetuses may be exposed to antimicrobial compounds
Health risks remain uncertain as scientists find common soap chemicals in pregnant women and cord blood.
- Planetary Science
To explain asteroid composition, scientists invoke nuts
Brazil nut effect may explain why only large boulders dot surfaces of asteroids.
- Computing
Thousand-robot swarm self-assembles into complex shapes
A swarm of a thousand tiny robots can now self-assemble into complex shapes, suggesting scientists have taken a step forward in engineering collective artificial intelligence
- Animals
Dolphins and whales may squeal with pleasure too
Dolphins and whales squeal after a food reward in about the same time it takes for dopamine to be released in the brain.
- Health & Medicine
Clearing up anatomy with a see-through mouse
A new method begins with a mouse or rat and ends with a transparent body, where details can be visualized all the way to the DNA. Here’s how it works.
- Astronomy
Dust nabbed by spacecraft may be from outside the solar system
NASA’s Stardust mission captured seven particles that probably come from interstellar space, providing researchers with the first direct samples from beyond the solar system.
- Humans
Antibiotics in infancy may cause obesity in adults
By altering the microbiome of infant mice, drugs predisposed the animals to gain fat as adults.
- Health & Medicine
Inflammation-blocking cells might fight often-fatal sepsis
Treatment saved young and old mice from overactive immune response to infection.
- Health & Medicine
Data deluge feeds paranoia parenting
There are several gadgets and devices you can buy that will feed you reams of data about your baby. But it’s not always clear how that data translate into useful information.
- Physics
Common motion emerges in swarms of only 10 midges
A swarm of midges may start to fly as a collective group with as few as 10 individuals, a new study shows.
- Health & Medicine
Elderly benefit from high-dose flu shot
High-dose vaccine may offer people age 65 and older improved protection against the flu.
