Uncategorized
- Genetics
Scientists find new way to corral genetically engineered bacteria
Engineering E. coli to depend on human-made molecules may keep genetically modified bacteria from escaping into nature.
- Environment
Atrazine’s path to cancer possibly clarified
Scientists have identified a cellular button that the controversial herbicide atrazine presses to promote tumor development.
- Planetary Science
Young asteroids generated long-lasting magnetism
Pockets of iron and nickel in meteorites suggest that asteroids in the early solar system produced magnetic fields for much longer than once thought.
- Neuroscience
Brain’s protective barrier gets leakier with age
Aging influences the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, which may contribute to learning and memory problems later in life.
- Health & Medicine
Immune system ‘reset’ may give MS patients a new lease on life
With the help of their own stem cells, MS patients can stop the disease in its tracks in many cases.
- Neuroscience
Newly identified brain circuit hints at how fear memories are made
A newfound set of brain connections appears to control fear memories, a finding that may lead to a better understanding of PTSD and other anxiety disorders.
- Animals
Cone snail deploys insulin to slow speedy prey
Fish-hunting cone snails turns insulin into a weapon that drops their prey’s blood sugar and eases capture.
- Life
Human evolution tied to a small fraction of the genome
Natural selection has concentrated on a small portion of the human genome, and mostly not on genes themselves.
- Physics
Speed of light not so constant after all
Even in vacuum conditions, light can move slower than its maximum speed depending on the structure of its pulses.
- Climate
2014 was Earth’s warmest year on record
Record-hot 2014 marks the 38th consecutive year of temperatures above the 20th century’s average.
- Tech
Using Facebook ‘likes,’ computer pegs people’s personalities
Using limited data from Facebook, computers can outdo humans in assessing a user’s openness, neuroticism and other personality traits.
- Earth
Faulty thermometers exaggerated western U.S. mountain warming
Defective thermometers used in snowpack and ecology research overstated warming in western U.S. mountains.
