News
- Health & Medicine
Possible measles drug tests well in animals
Compound that saves ferrets from viral infection might someday lead to measles treatment.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Triclosan aids nasal invasions by staph
The antimicrobial compound triclosan, commonly found in soaps and toothpaste, may help Staphylococcus aureus stick around.
By Beth Mole - Climate
Reef fish act drunk in carbon dioxide–rich ocean waters
In first test in the wild, fish near reefs that bubble with CO2 lose fear of predators’ scent.
By Meghan Rosen - Anthropology
Turkana Boy sparks row over Homo erectus height
Estimating the adult height and weight of an ancient youth from his skeleton has proven tricky.
By Bruce Bower - Climate
Ocean bacteria may have shut off ancient global warming
Ocean-dwelling bacteria may have helped end global warming 56 million years ago by gobbling up carbon from the CO2-laden atmosphere.
- Climate
IPCC calls for swift switch to alternative power
Rapid adoption of green power production will be necessary to avert a climate crisis, latest IPCC report says.
By Beth Mole - Astronomy
Early Mars couldn’t hold liquid water long
Small rocks hit Mars 3.6 billion years ago, suggesting an early atmosphere too thin for liquid water to hang around very long.
- Particle Physics
Exotic particle packs a foursome of quarks
Tetraquarks could help physicists understand the universe’s first generations of matter.
By Andrew Grant - Life
In a crisis, fruit flies do stunt turns
An elaborate monitoring system reveals that fruit flies can execute sophisticated flying maneuvers in the face of danger.
By Susan Milius - Neuroscience
Smell wiring gets set early
Mess with a baby mouse’s olfaction for too long and neurons never recover.
- Astronomy
Neutrinos from space rain down from all directions
Using Earth as a filter, scientists detect thousands of neutrinos from beyond the solar system.
By Andrew Grant - Earth
Tiny minerals may have shaped Earth’s first plate boundaries
Simulations link weakened rock minerals to the origin of plate tectonics on Earth.
By Naomi Lubick