Uncategorized
- Physics
Raindrops kick up soil chemicals
The champagne-like fizz produced when a raindrop hits the ground may be responsible for the earthy aroma after a rainstorm.
By Andrew Grant - Psychology
Adults with autism are left to navigate a jarring world
Researchers are beginning to study ways to help adults with autism navigate independently, get jobs and find friendship.
- Climate
Artificial fixes for climate change nixed — for now
Experts says schemes to manually adjust the world’s climate are not ready for use, but should be studied just in case.
By Beth Mole - Health & Medicine
Bouncing back from giving blood can take months
Taking iron supplements after donating blood can dramatically reduce the time it takes to recover iron levels in the blood, a study finds.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Fallout from nuclear bomb testing presaged today’s radioactive tracers
Scientists in 1965 measured buildup of radioactive carbon from nuclear bomb testing in people.
- Neuroscience
A brain at rest offers clues to Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s
PET scans reveal that the breakdown of brain networks differs in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
- Health & Medicine
Signs of sleep debt found in the blood
When rats and people skimp on sleep, fats and acids involved in metabolism dwindle.
- Environment
Humans’ environmental rap sheet gets longer
Ice cores reveal human-caused air pollution 240 years before the Industrial Revolution.
By Beth Mole - Ecosystems
Noise made by humans can be bad news for animals
Animals live in a world of sounds. Clever experiments are finally teasing out how human-made noise can cause dangerous distractions.
By Susan Milius - Astronomy
First stars born later than thought
New results from the Planck mission indicate that the first stars began to shine 550 million years after the Big Bang.
- Science & Society
Steven Weinberg looks back at rise of scientific method
Steven Weinberg’s new book ‘To Explain the World’ illustrates the difficulty of the development of modern science.
- Animals
‘The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins’ offers window into cetacean societies
Dolphins and whales pass cultural knowledge to one another, the authors of a new book argue.