News
- Life
Placenta protectors no match for toxic Strep B pigment
Strep B uses a toxic pigment made of fat to kill immune system cells, spurring preterm labor and dangerous infections, a monkey study shows.
- Psychology
Erasing stigma needed in mental health care
Social forces drive those in need away from mental health care.
By Bruce Bower - Life
One-celled life possessed tools for going multicellular
Unicellular ancestors of animals had molecular tools used by multicellular life.
- Paleontology
Birds’ honks filled Late Cretaceous air
Oldest avian voice box fossil yet discovered belonged to a ducklike bird that lived during the age of the dinosaurs.
By Meghan Rosen - Neuroscience
Nerve cell migration after birth may explain infant brain’s flexibility
A large group of neurons migrates into babies’ frontal lobes after birth.
- Psychology
Chimps, other apes take mind reading to humanlike level
In a first, apes show that they understand when others hold false beliefs.
By Bruce Bower - Earth
Seismologists surprised by deep California quakes
Small earthquakes detected along the Newport-Inglewood Fault originate from deeper underground than once thought possible.
- Chemistry
Molecules for making nanomachines snare chemistry Nobel
Nanochemists win Nobel prize for devising molecular machines
By Tina Hesman Saey and Thomas Sumner - Animals
Eels may not take most direct route in epic ocean-crossing spawning runs
European eels’ epic ocean migrations to spawn may include more peculiar routes and timing than thought.
By Susan Milius - Physics
Nobel awarded for using math of shapes to explain exotic matter
The three scientists who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics predicted new materials using mathematics illustrated by bagels and pretzels.
- Particle Physics
Evidence for new form of matter-antimatter asymmetry observed
Particles known as baryons show their first hints of antimatter-matter discrepancies.
- Health & Medicine
Deciphering cell’s recycling machinery earns Nobel
The 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his work on autophagy, a process that cells use to break down old parts for future use.
By Meghan Rosen and Laurel Hamers