News
- Physics
One-Atom Laser: Trapped atom shoots steady light beam
A single, ultracold cesium atom sandwiched between two mirrors yields the most orderly beam of laser light ever.
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Unfair Trade: Monkeys demand equitable exchanges
Researchers say they have shown for the first time that a nonhuman species—the brown capuchin monkey—has a sense of what's fair and what's not.
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Estrogen Shock: Mollusk gene rewrites history of sex hormone
Estrogen and similar hormones evolved much earlier than thought.
- Tech
Dream Machines from Beans: Legume proteins provide motion
Plant proteins swell and shrink in response to calcium, sparking new ideas for micromachines.
- Health & Medicine
Early Warning? Spinal fluid may signal Alzheimer’s presence
Spinal-fluid concentrations of two compounds already linked to the disease may reveal whether a person has Alzheimer's disease.
- Paleontology
Ratzilla: Extinct rodent was big, really big
Scientists who've analyzed the fossilized remains of an extinct South American rodent say that the creatures grew to weigh a whopping 700 kilograms.
- Tech
Channeling light in the deep sea
Light-conducting fibers that naturally sprout from certain deep-sea sponges may hold lessons for makers of optical fibers for telecommunications.
- Animals
Risk of egg diseases may rush incubation
Bird eggs can catch infections through their shells, and that risk may be an overlooked factor in the puzzlingly early start of incubation.
- Physics
Particle decays hint at new matter
A surprising disagreement between particle-physics theory and a Japan-based research team's measurement of decay rates of matter and antimatter hints that unknown, heavy subatomic particles may exist.
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Widows show third-year rebound
Women whose husbands die largely overcome their grief-related problems, including depression and social isolation, by about 3 years after their loss, according to a national study.
- Chemistry
Germ-killing plastic wrap
Scientists have developed biodegradable plastics that release natural germ-killing agents onto the foods wrapped inside.
- Chemistry
Toxic runoff from plastic mulch
Pesticide runoff from tomato fields covered with sheets of plastic can kill fish, clams, and other aquatic life.
