Notebook
- Earth
50 years ago, nuclear blasting for gas boomed. Today it’s a bust.
50 years ago, scientists made plans to use nuclear explosions to extract natural gas from underground. In one such experiment, the gas was released but turned out to be radioactive.
- Health & Medicine
A Pap smear can scoop up fetal cells for genome testing
Pap smear during pregnancy could offer an early way to test for fetal genetic disorders.
- Animals
Brazilian free-tailed bats are the fastest fliers
Ultrafast flying by one bat species leaves birds in the dust.
- Animals
An echidna’s to-do list: Sleep. Eat. Dig up Australia.
Short-beaked echidna’s to-do list looks good for a continent losing other digging mammals.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, fluoridation was promoted as a bone protector
In 1966, scientists hoped fluoride might protect adult bone health. While the results broke down over time, the benefits for teeth remain clear.
- Tech
Double-charging material makes a run in the sun extra powerful
Textile stores energy from the sun and a person’s movements to power devices.
- Health & Medicine
CDC sounds alarm on STDs
The combined reported cases of three common sexually transmitted diseases reached a historic peak in 2015, a new CDC report says.
- Paleontology
Dragon dinosaur met a muddy end
‘Mud dragon’ fossil discovered in China suggests that dinosaurs’ last days were an active time of evolution.
- Health & Medicine
50 years later, vaccines have eliminated some diseases
Vaccines have come a long way in 50 years.
- Earth
Mount St. Helens is a cold-hearted volcano
Geophysics reveals that deep beneath Mount St. Helens, there’s no source of hot magma, just a wedge of cold serpentinite rock. Where is the missing heat?
- Earth
The southern San Andreas has a smaller, neighboring fault to its west
The newly-discovered Salton Trough Fault runs parallel to the southern San Andreas Fault in California, potentially affecting the region’s earthquake risk.
- Health & Medicine
Riding roller coasters might help dislodge kidney stones
Researchers took a 3-D printed kidney containing tiny stones and urine for a spin on a roller coaster and found their patients’ stories of kidney stones passing on the ride to have merit.
