News in Brief

Planetary Science

Impact from a space rock may have helped shape Pluto’s heart

Pluto’s heart is deep basin, possibly caused by a run in with something else in the Kuiper belt.

Health & Medicine

Organ waiting list policy benefits the wealthy, study charges

Wealthier patients can afford to get on more organ transplant lists, giving them an advantage, a new study says.

Physics

Water droplets spontaneously bounce, sans trampoline

Initially stationary water droplets can bounce on an extremely water-repellent surface as if on a trampoline.

Paleontology

Ancient larvae built predator-thwarting mazes

Mazelike tunnels built by ancient insect larvae offered protection from predators, paleontologists propose.

Earth

New recipe for diamonds: Just add acid

Simulating the chemistry, pressures and temperatures in Earth’s interior, scientists have discovered a new way diamonds can form.

Animals

World’s smallest snail record broken again

Snails may not be speedy, but itty-bitty snail shells found in Borneo are breaking a size record at a breakneck pace.

Planetary Science

Probes unveil three hidden blemishes on moon’s face

Gravitational tugs on a pair of spacecraft have revealed previously unseen blemishes on the moon’s face.

Animals

Cat-versus-virus arms race goes back millennia

Researchers have found evidence of an ancient arms race between Felis silvestris catus, the species familiar today as the domestic cat, and feline immuno­deficiency virus.

Astronomy

Comet carries alcohol, sugar

Sugar and alcohol are just two of the ingredients that go into making a comet.

Genetics

Muscle-gene edit creates buff beagles

Gene editing works at low efficiency in dogs.

Astronomy

White dwarf upsets planetary system, consumes evidence

Rocky planets are disintegrating around a white dwarf, the core of a dead star.

Animals

For glowworms, the brightest girls get the guy

Brighter female glowworms attract more mates and lay more eggs than their dimmer peers.