News
- Physics
Why the thinnest sticky hairs rule
The foot hairs of geckos and other creatures that can walk on ceilings may be microscopic because only such slender hairs offer optimal adhesion, regardless of shape.
- Chemistry
Connection blocker may stop viruses
Using compounds that disrupt the interface of two viral proteins might present a novel strategy for combating viruses, a study of herpes suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Fish toxin stops cancer pain
An experimental drug fashioned from the toxin of the puffer fish can suppress pain in cancer patients.
- Health & Medicine
New diabetes drug passes early tests
The drug exenatide stabilizes and can reduce blood sugar in diabetes patients.
- Paleontology
Fossil Fingerprints: Rare earths tie bones to burial ground
The soil in which fossilization occurs leaves a chemical imprint on the bones, suggesting that scientists can use this soil signature to identify more precisely a fossil's original home.
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Bubble Trouble: Mad cow proteins may hitch a ride between cells
Prions, the proteins behind mad cow disease, may travel between cells in bubbles called exosomes.
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Tuning Up Young Minds: Music lessons give kids a small IQ advantage
Regular music lessons, focused either on learning to play an instrument or to sing, result in small but statistically significant IQ gains for first graders by the end of the school year, a new study finds.
- Animals
A tale of new whiskers
A newly discovered, featherweight tree mouse with an unexpected evolutionary past has survived widespread habitat destruction on the Philippine island of Luzon.
- Health & Medicine
Better Form, Same Function: Liposuction doesn’t lessen health risks
Liposuction doesn't improve the long-term health prospects of very obese people.
- Earth
Blueberry Hills: Utah nodules resemble some found on Mars
Analyses of small iron oxide nodules found within certain sandstones of the U.S. Southwest could shed light on how similar spherules may have formed on Mars.
- Planetary Science
Portrait of Phoebe: Cassini images a large Saturn moon
The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft took the first close-up images ever recorded of one of Saturn's oddest moons, Phoebe.
- Physics
Teleporting Matter’s Traits: Beaming information quantum-style
Physicists have transferred a quantum state from one atom to another by manipulating a mysterious, atom-to-atom quantum link called entanglement.
