News
- Astronomy
Gravity at play
Astronomers have found 19 cosmic mirages, distorted images created when the gravity of a massive galaxy bends and magnifies the light from a background object.
- Materials Science
Making waves
Scientists have created thin, wavy silicon ribbons that stretch along with their rubber backing.
- Tech
Cranberry aid for assay
Cranberry juice, often used to stave off urinary-tract infections caused by Escherichia coli, also keeps the bacterium from reducing a biosensor's specificity.
- Archaeology
Getting a read on early Maya writing
Excavators of a pyramid in northeastern Guatemala announced the discovery of the earliest known Maya writing.
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Robo Receptor: Researchers engineer a brain ion channel to take its cues from light
Scientists have engineered an ion channel in nerve cells to open or close in response to light.
- Ecosystems
Life Underfoot: Microbial biodiversity takes surprising twist
When it comes to numbers of bacterial species, rainforest dirt is virtually a desert, but desert dirt bursts with biodiversity.
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The Fat Track: Signals between cells keep creatures lean
An ancient cellular pathway that determines cells' fates also inhibits fat formation in insects and mammals.
- Health & Medicine
Put Down That Fork: Studies document hazards of obesity
Being overweight or obese in middle age increases a person's risk of heart or kidney problems later in life.
- Animals
Little Professor: Ants rank as first true animal teachers
The best evidence so far of true teaching in a nonhuman animal comes from ants. With video.
- Humans
Faked Finds: Human stem cell work is discredited
South Korean scientist Woo Suk Hwang faked embryonic stem cell findings, say investigators from Seoul National University.
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Masters of Disaster: Survey taps resilience of post-9/11 New York
Telephone interviews with more than 2,700 people living in and around New York City yielded evidence of widespread psychological resilience during the 6 months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
- Earth
Greenhouse Plants? Vegetation may produce methane
Lab tests suggest that a wide variety of plants may routinely do something that scientists previously thought impossible; produce methane in significant quantities in an oxygenated environment.
