News
- 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.
- Anthropology
Big Viking families nurtured murder
Vikings in Iceland got a murderous boost from having large extended families.
- Physics
Rarest nucleus reluctant to decay
Tantalum-180m has a half-life more than a million times the age of the universe.
- Genetics
To make female pill bugs, just add bacterial genes
Genes from Wolbachia bacteria infiltrated pill bugs and now make genetic males female.
- Cosmology
After Big Bang, shock waves rocked newborn universe
Shock waves in the early universe could explain the generation of magnetic fields and the predominance of matter over antimatter.
- Animals
Primitive signs of emotions spotted in sugar-buzzed bumblebees
When bumblebees eat a sugary snack, they make more optimistic decisions, a new study finds. This could be early evidence for emotion in insects.
- Genetics
Gene linked to autism in people may influence dog sociability
DNA variants were linked to beagles’ tendency to seek human help.
- Planetary Science
So long, Rosetta: End is near for comet orbiter
During its time in orbit around comet 67P, the Rosetta spacecraft discovered diverse terrains, organic molecules and a source of water quite different from Earth’s oceans.
- Earth
Glass bits, charcoal hint at 56-million-year-old space rock impact
Glassy debris and the burnt remains of wildfires suggest that a large space rock hit Earth near the start of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming event around 56 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Concern expands over Zika birth defects
Infection with Zika virus in utero can trigger a spectrum of birth defects beyond microcephaly, and could potentially cause long-term health problems as well.
