Notebook
- Cosmology
Revamping the size of the universe
Despite new telescopes and technology, no one knows whether the universe is infinitely large or even if what has been observed is the only universe that exists.
- Animals
How to milk a naked mole-rat
For the sake of science, Olav Oftedal has milked bats, bears and a lot of other mammals. But a naked mole-rat was something new.
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- Paleontology
Loblolly sets record for biggest genome
At 20 billion base pairs, the loblolly pine is the largest genome sequenced to date.
- Science & Society
Anti-leukemia vaccine reported hope of future
Fifty years ago, Science News Letter reported on the promise of a vaccine to prevent leukemia. No preventive vaccine has come to pass, but leukemia vaccines as treatments has yielded promising results.
- Animals
Caiman tears make a salty snack
An ecologist observed a bee and a butterfly hovering around a caiman, engaging in lacryphagous behavior, slurping up the crocodilian’s tears.
- Paleontology
‘Hidden dragon’ fossil is oldest flying reptile
Researchers have unearthed the oldest pterodactyl ever discovered: Kptodrakon progenitor soared over the Earth 163 million years ago.
- Tech
Animated movies made by computer
A 17-minute animated movie made with a computer in 1964 took 2,000 hours of film processing and cost $600 per minute. The 2013 animated film Frozen cost about $1.5 million per minute to make.
- Physics
Laser kicks molecules into fastest ever spin
The powerful kick of a laser has spun molecules faster than they’ve ever been spun before: 10 trillion rotations per second, or 600 trillion RPM.
- Microbes
One giant leap for zit-causing microbes
A bacterium that lives on humans and causes acne also hopped to domesticated grapevines and relies on the plant for crucial DNA repairs.
- Neuroscience
What’s behind rising autism rates
Better diagnosis may be driving a recent spike in autism.
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