News
-
Babble Rousers: Babies find their voice when given social push
Eight-month-old infants utter more complex, speechlike sounds when their mothers encourage them with well-timed touches and smiles rather than with words offered as models to imitate.
- Planetary Science
Slowdown on Saturn? Windy doings on the ringed planet
The winds in Saturn’s upper atmosphere are some of the swiftest in the solar system, but recent findings suggest there’s been a dramatic slowdown.
- Materials Science
Caught on Tape: Gecko-inspired adhesive is superstrong
Researchers have emulated a gecko's sticking power to create a superstrong adhesive.
- Earth
Sticky Situation: Nonstick surfaces can turn toxic at high heat
Nonstick cookware can, if overheated, sicken people and kill birds, according to a new analysis of research published over the past 40 years.
-
Getting an Earful: With gene therapy, ears grow new sensory cells
Scientists have for the first time coaxed the growth of new sensory cells within the ears of an adult mammal.
-
Salamander moms use bacteria to save eggs from fungi
Salamander skin has bacteria that repel egg-destroying mold.
-
Bulletproof bacteria
Bacteria can survive being blasted into space.
-
Smoking out microbes
The addictive compound nicotine kills bacteria, which may explain why smokers get lung disease.
-
Some like it hotter
A microbe found on the ocean floor can grow at 121°C, a new record for the upper temperature limit for life.
-
Chopping up a microbial tail
An enzyme made by immune cells destroys the proteins that make up bacterial tails.
- Earth
Whale meat in Japan is loaded with mercury
Some people in Japan who eat dolphins and other toothed whales are ingesting amounts of mercury that exceed legal health limits.
- Astronomy
Finding a nearby star
Astronomers have discovered a star that may be among the very closest known to us.
