News
- Health & Medicine
Healthiest weight just might be ‘overweight’
The body mass index tied to lowest risk of death has risen since the 1970s. It now falls squarely in the “overweight” category.
- Quantum Physics
Physicists smash particle imitators
A new quasiparticle collider smashes together the faux-particles that appear in solid materials.
- Health & Medicine
Heartburn drugs can damage cells that line blood vessels
A type of heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors may damage cells that line the blood vessels. The results, though controversial, hint at an explanation for PPI’s link to serious side effects, including risk of dementia and heart attack.
By Meghan Rosen - Planetary Science
Long-running lunar mission reveals moon’s surprises
Seven years into its mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still going strong and finding surprises on the moon.
- Quantum Physics
Communicating covertly goes quantum
Researchers are working to make quantum messages that are undetectable.
- Life
Some Crohn’s genes make cells deaf to messages from good gut bacteria
Genes linked to Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, might make people’s immune cells miss out on helpful messages sent by friendly gut bacteria.
By Meghan Rosen - Anthropology
Asian primates hit hard by ancient climate change
Chinese fossils suggest primates diverged in Asia and Africa around 34 million years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Neuroscience
A breakdown product, not ketamine, may ease depression
Ketamine’s breakdown product, not the drug itself, eases depression, a mouse study suggests.
- Earth
Rainwater can help trigger earthquakes
Rainwater plays a major role in the triggering of earthquakes along New Zealand’s Alpine Fault.
- Astronomy
Nearby exoplanet trio new target in search for life
Three nearby exoplanets might be good spots to go looking for signs of alien life.
- Climate
Fizzled 2014 El Niño fired up ongoing monster El Niño
The ongoing El Niño, one of the strongest on record, got a heat boost from a 2014 event that failed due to unfavorable winds.
- Neuroscience
Evidence conflicts on iron’s role in Parkinson’s disease
Experiments yield conflicting results about whether vulnerable nerve cells have too much or too little iron.