News
- Astronomy
Super-Earths are not a good place for plate tectonics
The intense pressures inside super-Earths make plate tectonics less likely, new research suggests.
- Environment
Oil-munching microbes cleaning up Gulf marshes faster than expected
Microbes in some of Louisiana’s marshes are breaking down oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill faster than expected.
By Beth Mole - Neuroscience
One path that fear takes in the brain discovered
By hijacking a newly discovered pathway in mice’s brains, scientists inspire fear.
- Health & Medicine
Switching off nerve cells eases asthma attacks
A drug that numbs nerve cells in mice’s airways offers a new way to ease the effects of an asthma attack.
By Meghan Rosen - Health & Medicine
New cancer drugs wake up sleeping killer T cells
The immune system’s T cells, often evaded by tumors, might now resume the attack.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Spit test could provide early warning of head, neck cancers
A new study shows that signs of head and neck cancer can be detected in saliva and blood plasma even before tumors are clinically diagnosed.
- Astronomy
Dark galaxies grow in abundance
Nearly 1,000 shadowy galaxies lurk in a nearby cluster, some of which are as massive as the Milky Way and yet have only 0.1 percent the number of stars.
- Astronomy
Magnetic ‘glue’ helps shape galaxies
Galaxy-wide magnetic fields may play a role in shaping the spiral arms of gas and stars.
- Neuroscience
Sense of smell is strictly personal, study suggests
A new test can identify individuals based on their sense of smell, and may hold information about a person’s genetic makeup as well.
- Neuroscience
Brain’s adult stem cells born early
By tracing the lineages of adult stem cells in the mouse brain, scientists get a view of the cells’ early lives.
- Earth
Fast-spreading crack threatens giant Antarctic ice shelf
A fast-spreading crack threatens Larsen C, one of Antarctica’s biggest ice shelves, satellite data suggest.
- Animals
When baboons travel, majority rules
GPS study suggests baboons use simple rules to resolve travel disputes without leaders.
By Bruce Bower