News
- Plants
World’s fastest plant explodes with pollen
A high-speed camera has revealed the explosive pollen launches of bunchberry dogwood flowers as the fastest plant motion known.
- Planetary Science
Renegade moon
Saturn's outlier moon Phoebe didn't coalesce from material near the ringed planet but was captured from the distant Kuiper belt.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine Gains: Shot protects seniors from shingles flare-ups
An experimental vaccine prevents half of all cases of shingles, a painful skin disease that typically afflicts the elderly.
- Tech
Smart Trap: Nanosensor tracks major brain chemical
The study of neurological diseases and brain functions could get a lot more precise with the invention of an optical sensor that can closely monitor a key chemical in the brain.
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Decoding Garlic’s Pizzazz: Extract stimulates taste, temperature receptors
Raw garlic's characteristic spiciness stems from its capacity to open channels on nerve cells that react both to tastes and noxious temperatures.
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Investing on a Whiff: Chemical spray shows power as trust booster
Individuals who smell a brain hormone known as oxytocin become unusually trusting of others in financial transactions.
- Planetary Science
High Anxiety: Sudden solar flare highlights space risks
Measurements of energetic particles from an unusually strong solar flare that pummeled Earth early this year suggest that astronauts traveling or working in space might sometimes need to reach shelter within minutes of a warning.
- Animals
Anemone Wars: Clone armies deploy scouts, attack tidally
The first description of clashing armies of sea anemones has revealed unsuspected military tactics.
- Earth
Gender Measure: Pollutant appears to alter boys’ genitals
Infant boys who were exposed in the womb to modest concentrations of certain common plasticizers and solvents developed genital changes.
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Menstrual cycle changes the brain
Hormonal fluctuations over the course of a woman's menstrual cycle change the abundance of a type of receptor on nerve cells, which can change the cells' behavior.
- Chemistry
Chemical analysis deciphers biblical palette
The first characterization of the paints used to decorate the margins of Gutenberg Bibles could help guide preservation and future restoration efforts.
- Planetary Science
Mars Polar Lander: Lost but now found?
A reanalysis of an image taken 5 years ago suggests that planetary scientists have found the remains of the Mars Polar Lander, which vanished minutes before it was supposed to touch down on the Red Planet.
