News
- Physics
Insects covered in tough stuff
Locust exoskeleton could inspire new, fracture-resistant materials.
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- Life
Pigeon navigation finding called off-course
Iron-containing cells that had been reported in beaks look mostly like immune system components, a new study finds.
- Earth
Indonesian quake passes without major tsunami
A magnitude 8.6 tremor displaced far less water than the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster.
- Space
Tall, devilish storm skids across Mars’ surface
Probe captures 20-kilometer dust devil in action.
- Health & Medicine
Why emotions are attention-getters
Strong, direct connections between two key brain centers help explain how feelings can usurp focus.
- Life
Bat-killing fungus is a European import
Tracing the origins of the strain that causes white-nose syndrome in U.S. animals to Europe, scientists show that infection ups arousal rate during hibernation, depleting energy stores.
- Earth
Stop-and-go plate tectonics
Early on, ancient crustal plates may have dived deep into the Earth, time and again, giving a halting start to the planetary remodeling process.
- Health & Medicine
Autism linked to obesity in pregnancy
Association may spark research into a possible biological mechanism.
- Space
Planets’ gravity tidies stellar ring
The vast dust disk around the star Fomalhaut hints at a pair of orbiting bodies.
- Humans
Chemists distinguish between gunshot residue from various firearms
Analytical technique could lead to better crime scene investigation.
- Health & Medicine
Extreme eaters show abnormal brain activity
Seeing images of food revs up reward areas in the obese and slows them down in severely underweight people, a brain scan study shows.
