News
- Physics
Electron cloud mirrors fossil life-form
Remarkable molecules whose electron clouds would resemble now-extinct marine creatures called trilobites could appear in experiments on ultracold atom clouds known as Bose-Einstein condensates, theorists predict.
- Physics
Goo’s melting could keep battery cool
Using the sometimes dangerous heat of lithium batteries to melt wax or similar materials may keep the potent cells cool enough for safe use in electric vehicles while also boosting the batteries' performance.
- Astronomy
New Images: They Might Be Planets
Astronomers have for the first time obtained images of as many as 18 objects beyond our solar system that, based on their mass alone, could qualify as planets.
- Health & Medicine
Drug spares eggs from early death
A newly discovered drug that prevents radiation from hastening egg cell death in mice might also prevent some human cancer patients from suffering sterility and premature menopause.
- Animals
Beetle fights bass in mouthwash duel
A whirligig beetle duels with a hungry fish by dribbling out a repulsive chemical while the fish tries to rinse it off.
- Earth
Even Nunavut gets plenty of dioxin
Within a few weeks, some of the dioxin generated by industrial activities in the United States and Mexico falls out in the high Arctic.
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Teams implicate new gene in prostate cancer
A newly discovered gene may, in rare cases, cause prostate cancer or, more commonly, raise a man's risk of developing the disease.
- Earth
Two microbes team up to munch methane
Aggregates of two different microorganisms in methane-bearing ocean sediments collected off the Oregon coast appear to collaborate to consume methane despite a lack of oxygen.
- Health & Medicine
Some psychoactive drugs ease harsh PMS
Drugs such as widely prescribed Prozac can relieve a severe form of premenstrual syndrome.
- Math
Global contest nets encryption standard
A data-scrambling scheme called Rijndael was selected to become the federal government's new formula for protecting sensitive, unclassified information.
- Astronomy
Stellar motions provide hole-y data
Measuring for the first time the acceleration of stars near the dense core of our galaxy, astronomers have obtained more precise information on the location and density of the black hole that lurks there.
- Astronomy
Gang of four: Debut of a big telescope
In the desert of northern Chile, a fourth 8.2-meter telescope opened for business, completing a quartet known as the Very Large Telescope.
