All Stories
- Materials Science
Pearl coating inspires tougher ceramics
A material called mother of pearl, or nacre, has inspired the design of more durable, less brittle ceramics.
- Climate
Natural climate shifts affect sea level rise
A recent dip in the rate of sea level rise may be due to natural climate variability.
- Tech
English Channel tunnel
First proposed in 1802 as a tunnel for horse-drawn carriages, the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel, was built starting in 1987 and opened in 1994.
- Cosmology
Cosmic question mark
Two ways of measuring the universe’s expansion rate disagree by about 10 percent. One of the methods may be flawed. Or it could be that a hitherto unobserved phenomenon is at work.
- Health & Medicine
Sudden death
Cardiologists disagree on whether electrocardiograms should be used to screen student athletes for a rare heart condition that can cause them to die suddenly and without warning.
- Climate
Kangaroo gut microbes make eco-friendly farts
Understanding kangaroos’ low-methane flatulence could help researchers lower greenhouse gas emissions from livestock.
- Cosmology
Top 10 cosmological discoveries
The cosmic microwave background radiation has played a part in many of cosmology’s greatest discoveries.
- Health & Medicine
Small molecule makes brain cancer cells collapse and die
A small molecule, Vacquinol-1, may provide a different way to target and kill cells in glioblastomas, a type of brain tumor.
- Plants
Milkweed ‘horns’ may equal wins in reproduction battle
Plants may be ripping a page right from bucks’ playbooks, developing hornlike weapons to improve their chances of reproduction.
- Animals
A parasitic cuckoo can be a good thing
Great spotted cuckoo chicks show that brood parasites may benefit their hosts.
- Plants
Fossil fern showcases ancient chromosomes
Fossil nuclei and chromosomes seen in a 180-million-year-old fern reveals that the plants have stayed mostly the same.
- Life
Human noses know more than 1 trillion odors
Sense of smell displays a vast reach in study of people’s ability to distinguish between scents.
