News
- Earth
Mantle waves buoy continents upward and bedeck them with diamonds
A phenomenon occurring deep underground may explain how vast plateaus form far away from tectonic plate boundaries.
- Health & Medicine
Extreme heat and rain are fueling rising cases of mosquito-borne diseases
Extreme Climate Update looks at the perfect storm climate change is creating for mosquitoes and the diseases they carry, like dengue and West Nile.
- Microbes
More than 100 bacteria species can flourish in microwave ovens
Swabs of 30 microwave ovens in different settings identified over 100 bacterial species, some of which could be pathogenic or cause food-borne disease.
- Health & Medicine
New COVID-19 booster shots have been approved. When should you get one?
The vaccines target the omicron variants currently circulating in the United States.
- Agriculture
Can scientists make fruits and veggies resilient to climate change?
Combining traditional plant breeding with new genomics tools is allowing scientists to grow plants that are better adapted to a warming climate.
- Climate
Zapping sand to create rock could help curb coastal erosion
Low voltages generated minerals that help bind the sand into erosion-resistant rock, offering hope for shorelines ravaged by waves.
- Health & Medicine
Expanding antibiotic treatment in sub-Saharan Africa could save kids’ lives
Current guidelines limit treatment to infants. Giving antibiotics to at-risk kids under 5, too, has an indirect effect on infant survival, a new trial shows.
- Physics
The world’s fastest microscope makes its debut
Using a laser and an electron beam, the microscope can snap images of moving electrons every 625 quintillionths of a second.
- Space
The historic ‘Wow!’ signal may finally have a source. Sorry, it’s not aliens
One of the best possible signs of extraterrestrial communication may have an astrophysical explanation — albeit a weird one.
- Astronomy
The nearest midsized black hole might instead be a horde of lightweights
Astronomers recently reported that the Milky Way star cluster Omega Centauri hosts an elusive type of black hole. A new study says it does not.
- Animals
This spider makes its home in the burrows of extinct giant ground sloths
Caves made by extinct giant ground sloths make the perfect home for a newly discovered type of long-spinneret ground spider from Brazil.
- Animals
This spider uses trapped fireflies to lure in more prey
Male fireflies trapped in the spider’s web flash femalelike lights, possibly luring in other flying males and allowing the arachnid to stock up on food.
