News
- Genetics
Chimp and human lineages may have split twice as long ago as thought
New estimates of chimpanzee mutation rates suggest humans and chimps last shared a common ancestor 13 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Number of skin moles tied to breast cancer risk
Women who have many moles also have increased disease risk, which may reflect higher estrogen levels.
- Animals
Winter road salting reshapes next summer’s butterflies
Winter road salt treatments boost sodium in roadside plants and alter development for monarch butterflies.
- Life
Oxytocin stimulates repair of old mice’s muscles
The naturally produced hormone oxytocin, well known for its role in social bonding, may help heal injured muscles in the elderly.
- Astronomy
Stopping starlight may bring other Earths into focus
Two new telescope concepts compete for NASA’s approval, in hopes of taking the first picture of a life-bearing exoplanet.
- Agriculture
Fertilizer produces far more greenhouse gas than expected
Farmers’ overuse of nitrogen-based fertilizers may explain previously puzzling high emissions of nitrous oxide.
- Neuroscience
Rats feel regret, experiment finds
When they turn down a good meal for a lesser one, rodents regret their choice, a study suggests.
- Materials Science
New invisibility cloak hides in the fog
A simple invisibility cloak relies on hazy environments to mask objects.
- Neuroscience
Sleep strengthens some synapses
Mice show signs of stronger neuron connections when allowed to sleep after learning a trick.
- Planetary Science
Moon’s origins revealed in rocks’ chemistry
A new chemical measurement of rocks from Earth and from the moon supports the giant impact hypothesis, which explains how the moon formed billions of years ago.
- Genetics
Bromine found to be essential to animal life
Fruit flies deprived of the element bromine can’t make normal connective tissue that supports cells and either don’t hatch or die as larvae.
- Life
Hatcheries’ metal can disrupt steelhead magnetic sense
Growing up in magnetic fields distorted by pipes and electronics confounds young fish’s inherited map sense.
