News
- Space
Asteroids miss with astronomers
Close brushes with small objects like the ones that swept past Earth on Wednesday are actually fairly common.
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Dry air might boost flu transmission
Germs prefer an environment that’s cool, dry and UV-free, experiments suggest.
- Chemistry
Cockroach brains, coming to a pharmacy near you
Insect tissue extracts show antibacterial activity in lab experiments.
- Health & Medicine
Defining normal in the brain
A new growth curve paves way for scans to be used to spot early signs of autism, schizophrenia or other disorders.
- Space
Mars shows signs of recent activity
The surface of Mars had abundant liquid water as well as volcanic activity during the past 100 million years, a new study of the Martian atmosphere suggests.
- Health & Medicine
A cellular secret to long life
Longevity may depend in part on histones, proteins that keep DNA neatly spooled in the cell’s nucleus and help regulate gene activity.
- Health & Medicine
Mutated gene cited in some ovarian cancers
The finding may help researchers devise a way to screen women with endometriosis for cancer risk.
- Paleontology
The hunchback of central Spain
An exquisitely preserved dinosaur from central Spain has a hump on its back and suggestions of featherlike appendages on its arms. The primitive carnivore lived about 125 million years ago and may push back the first known instance of feathers on the dinosaur family tree.
- Astronomy
Mars organics get new lease on life
More than three decades after the Viking mission failed to find compounds necessary for carbon-based life, a new analysis suggests they could actually be present at detectable levels in the planet’s soil.
- Earth
What lies beneath
Studies of geology, soils and agricultural demand may prove useful in forecasting the climate effects of deforestation.
- Earth
Not in this toad’s backyard
Yellow crazy ants meet a hungry obstacle as they spread into cacao plantations.
- Health & Medicine
Study clarifies obesity-infertility link
In female mice, high insulin levels cause a disruptive flood of fertility hormones.
