News in Brief
- Paleontology
Duck-billed dinosaurs roamed the Arctic in herds
Young and old duck-billed dinosaurs lived together in herds in the Arctic, tracks preserved in Alaska indicate.
- Astronomy
Supernova rapidly creates dust between stars
Astronomers watch a shell of dust form within weeks of a star’s explosion.
- Earth
Gravity variations foretell flood risk months in advance
Tiny gravitational tugs from saturated river basins allow NASA satellites to forecast flood risk.
- Paleontology
Flightless dino-bird wore full-body feathers
Recently unearthed Archaeopteryx fossil sports full coat of feathers, suggesting feather evolution was more complex than previously thought.
- Life
Stem cell papers retracted
Researchers who reported easy method for making stem cells admit mistakes mar their work, and have retracted their papers from Nature.
- Health & Medicine
Bone marrow transplant could reverse sickle cell in adults
A relatively mild treatment involving radiation and chemo followed by a bone marrow transplant may treat sickle cell disease in adults.
- Life
One lichen is actually 126 species and counting
One supposedly well-known tropical lichen could really be several hundred kinds.
- Astronomy
Milky Way galaxy’s dust clouds shown in 3-D map
A new three-dimensional map of interstellar dust in the Milky Way wraps 180 degrees around the sky and extends over 16,000 light-years from Earth.
- Psychology
Just four questions can identify which ER patients need prompt care
A simple decision tree may find serious ailments in ER patients’ fuzzy complaints.
- Health & Medicine
Simple blood test detects heart transplant rejection
Heart transplant recipients whose bodies are starting to reject the new organ might carry genetic warning signs.
- Genetics
Gene variant tied to diabetes in Greenlanders
Greenlanders who carry two copies of a newly discovered gene variant have upwards of 10 times the chance of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Neuroscience
Stress hormone kicks brain cells into gear
Norepinephrine, a stress hormone, wakes up cells called astroglia, possibly shifting brain into vigilant state.
