Notebook
- Planetary Science
To explain asteroid composition, scientists invoke nuts
Brazil nut effect may explain why only large boulders dot surfaces of asteroids.
- Health & Medicine
Survey catalogs what is stressing out Americans
Along with work and other responsibilities, health problems are prominent causes of stress.
- Math
Father-son mathematicians fold math into fonts
MIT’s Erik and Martin Demaine create puzzle typefaces to test new ideas.
- Earth
Cloud seeding fueled fire about weather modification
Experiments in 1964 resulted in “exploding” clouds.
- Tech
Robots start flat, then pop into shape and crawl
The machines use heated hinges to transform into shape and crawl around.
- Animals
‘Octomom’ sets egg-brooding record
The deep ocean reveals a new record as an octopus mom broods the same clutch of eggs for almost 4.5 years.
- Animals
Parchment worms are best pinched in the dark
Meek tube-dwelling worms have strange glowing mucus and build papery tubes.
- Health & Medicine
Boot camp bug
Adenoviruses, which cause respiratory illnesses including some colds, plague boot camps.
- Life
Chemical evidence paved way for discovery of early life
The discovery in 1964 of compounds related to chlorophyll in billion-year-old rocks pushed back the timing of life’s origins.
- Animals
Elephant’s big nose wins most sensitive sniffer
A genetic survey reveals that African elephants harbor more smell sensors than any other known animal.
- Paleontology
Baby mammoths died traumatic deaths
CT scans show that two young mammoths probably suffocated.
- Animals
Elephant shrews are, oddly, related to actual elephants
A new species in the group is the smallest yet, with adults smaller than a newborn kitten.
