News
- Earth
Slick Death: Oil-spill treatment kills coral
Chemicals used to disperse marine oil spills are more harmful to coral than the oil itself.
- Paleontology
Dinosaurs’ gradual rise to dominance
Early dinosaurs didn't quickly eclipse the creatures they evolved from, but lived alongside them for perhaps 20 million years.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Metal spews from tires and brake pads
A study in Stockholm says that tires and brake pads emit a variety of metal pollutants despite European regulations aimed at cleaning up these parts.
By Sarah Webb - Materials Science
Gecko adhesive gets added mussel
A new adhesive that borrows tricks from the gecko and the mussel can stick and detach repeatedly and works even when wet.
By Sarah Webb - Humans
More math helps young scientists
Taking more math in high school improves students' college grades in physics, chemistry, and biology.
- Earth
Light reaches deep in southeast Pacific
In a remote part of the southeastern Pacific where marine life is sparse, ultraviolet light penetrates to unprecedented depths.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
TB medication offers pain relief
An antibiotic once used to treat tuberculosis may offer relief from chronic pain.
By Jenny Pegg - Astronomy
Shedding light on the precursor to a supernova
A supernova lights up its surroundings, revealing evidence of what made the star explode.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Statin reduces dementia risk
A popular anticholesterol drug reduces older adults' chances of developing dementia.
By Brian Vastag - Physics
Slick serpent
Oil poured into a pan of the same liquid drags along a surrounding air layer, which can make it skip in and out of the surface before it mixes in.
- Astronomy
Heavenly Chemistry: Astronomers announce astrophysical anion
Astronomers' discovery of a rare negatively charged organic molecule sheds light on conditions in interstellar gas clouds, where amino acids, sugars, and other prebiologic compounds form.
By Ron Cowen -
Sweet Gatekeeper: Receptor depends on sugar and water
Water and sugar molecules play a previously unsuspected role in the way that a ubiquitous receptor passes chemical messages between cells.