News
- Earth
Sandstone structures form without cement
Lasting sandstone structures form when weighed-down sand locks into stable formations, researchers find in laboratory experiment.
- Tech
Wax-coated plastic morphs between soft and stiff
Heat-controlled materials could serve as skeleton for shape-shifting robots.
By Meghan Rosen - Health & Medicine
Organic foods may contain extra antioxidants
Contrary to previous studies, a new analysis finds that organic crops have nutritional benefits over conventionally grown foods.
By Beth Mole - Life
Pregnancy disorder shares aspects with Alzheimer’s
Misfolded proteins, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s and mad cow diseases, are found in urine of women with preeclampsia.
- Neuroscience
Obese women struggle to learn food associations
In a lab experiment, women fail to connect color signal with tasty reward, a deficit that may contribute to obesity.
- Astronomy
Voyager may not have entered interstellar space, after all
Two scientists argue that Voyager 1 space probe is still in solar bubble, despite NASA’s announcements to the contrary.
By Andrew Grant - Plants
Wine corks may owe quality to gene activity
Discovery of genes that distinguish superior stoppers from inferior ones could help reverse recent global downturn in quality.
By Nsikan Akpan - Neuroscience
Electrode turns consciousness on and off
Woman lost awareness, though appeared awake, when her brain was stimulated near an area called the claustrum.
- Life
Domesticated animals’ juvenile appearance tied to embryonic cells
Mild defects in embryonic cells could explain physical similarities along with tameness across domesticated species.
- Anthropology
Clovis people may have hunted elephant-like prey, not just mammoths
The ancient American Clovis culture started out hunting elephant-like animals well south of New World entry points, finds in Mexico suggest.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
HIV reemerges in ‘cured’ child
The discovery spotlights limits in detecting the clandestine germ and raises questions about whether HIV can ever truly be cured.
By Nsikan Akpan - Oceans
Saharan dust explains Bahamas’ paradoxical existence
Windswept dust from the Sahara Desert may fertilize bacteria that built the Bahamas.