News in Brief

Physics

Smashing gold ions creates most swirly fluid ever

Collisions of gold ions create a fluid with more vorticity than any other known.

Genetics

CRISPR used in cows to help fight tuberculosis

Chinese researchers used a CRISPR/Cas 9 gene editor to make cows more resistant to tuberculosis.

Archaeology

Cow carved in stone paints picture of Europe’s early human culture

Stone Age engraving helps to illuminate European travels of an ancient human culture.

Oceans

Cone snails wander in circles, lose focus with boosted CO₂

Deadly cone snails wander in circles and become less capable hunters when exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide in seawater.

Cosmology

New data fuel debate on universe’s expansion rate

Quasar observations add to discrepancy in measurements of the universe’s expansion speed.

Astronomy

Five gamma-ray blazars set new distance record

Intensely bright galaxies are the farthest blazars ever detected in gamma rays.

Tech

Bat robot takes wing

Unlike other aerial robots that use whirling rotor blades to fly, the Bat Bot relies on soft, silicone-based wings to glide, swoop and turn.

Earth

3-billion-year-old crystals hint at lost continent’s fate

Zircon crystals from a long-gone continent called Mauritia may have resurfaced during volcanic eruptions on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

Astronomy

Spin may reveal black hole history

High rate of spin could indicate that black holes formed from previous mergers of black holes.

Planetary Science

Oxygen atoms from Earth bombard the moon

Oxygen atoms originating from the upper atmosphere periodically bombard the moon’s surface, researchers propose.

Tech

Legos inspire versatile fluid-filled devices

Tiny devices shuttle fluid around using reconfigurable Lego-like bricks.

Paleontology

Ancient giant otter unearthed in China

Fossils unearthed in China reveal a newly discovered, now-extinct species of otter that lived some 6.2 million years ago.