News
- Life
Alga borrows genes to beat the heat, acid and toxic metals
Such genetic theft from bacteria and archaea is unusual among eukaryotes.
- Life
Mice get brain boost from transplanted human tissue
An experimental transplant of what have long been considered just support cells shows they may play a role in memory and learning.
- Space
No vacancy around stars
The Milky Way’s planets pack tightly around their stars, according to simulations using data from the Kepler space telescope.
By Andrew Grant - Physics
Vortex gets tied in knots
Physicists use 3-D printing and tiny bubbles to capture twisted-up water.
By Andrew Grant - Health & Medicine
Immune cells chow down on living brain
Microglia prune developing rat and monkey brains by eating neural stem cells.
By Meghan Rosen - Life
Camel ancestors lived in the Arctic
Fossils on Ellesmere Island suggest famous desert dweller got its start in cold regions.
By Erin Wayman - Health & Medicine
Baby may be cured of HIV
Only viral traces remain after prompt treatment of newborn, suggesting no working virus is left in the girl’s body.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
News in Brief: HIV may increase heart attack risk
A large study of veterans shows connection between HIV and heart attack in men.
By Nathan Seppa - Animals
Native pollinators boost crop yields worldwide
Farms with crops from coffee to mangoes don’t get the best yields if they rely solely on honeybees.
By Susan Milius - Life
Sperm swim against the current
Human and mouse sperm both follow upstream currents to the egg.
By Meghan Rosen - Life
Impact craters may have been a toasty home for early life
The heat generated during a cosmic crash could have nurtured ancient organisms.
By Erin Wayman - Space
Radiation ring around Earth mysteriously appears, then dissipates
Space probes detect temporary transition from two radiation belts to three, possibly in response to solar activity.