Uncategorized
- Environment
Thirdhand smoke poses lingering danger
Harmful cigarette chemicals that linger on surfaces, known as thirdhand smoke, can go on to pollute the air and may harm people’s health.
By Beth Mole - Neuroscience
Brain regions linking odors to words pinpointed
Scientists have pinpointed two brain regions involved in linking odors to their names, with implications for why smells are hard to identify.
- Life
Epic worldwide effort explores all of insect history
A whopper of a genetic analysis fits all living orders of insects into one genealogical evolutionary tree.
By Susan Milius - Life
Norovirus grown in lab, with help from bacteria
Norovirus, famous for sickening cruise ship passengers, has finally been grown in human cells in a lab, offering scientists a chance to test new therapies.
By Meghan Rosen - Health & Medicine
Uncommon malaria spreading in Malaysia
Malaria parasite’s jump from monkeys to people seems aided by deforestation in Malaysia.
By Nathan Seppa - Animals
Bats jam each other in echolocation battles for food
By blaring a special call at just the right instant, Mexican free-tailed bats can ruin each other’s sonar-guided swoops toward prey.
By Susan Milius - Psychology
With a tap on the back, researchers create ghostly sensation
Experimentally induced illusion probes supernatural experiences, hallucinations.
By Bruce Bower - Materials Science
Batteries become safe to swallow with spongy covering
Quantum-inspired coating switches from a conductor to an insulator to prevent injury from swallowed batteries.
By Beth Mole - Astronomy
Infant worlds carve gaps in planet-forming disk
A new image shows planets sweeping up gas and dust in a disk encircling the infant star HL Tau.
- Materials Science
‘Impermeable’ graphene yields to protons
Graphene sheets, impermeable to all atoms and molecules, can be penetrated by protons, new study shows.
By Andrew Grant - Astronomy
Nearly starless galaxies found in nearby cluster
Astronomers have found 47 galaxies with relatively few stars, something not predicted by any galaxy formation theories.
- Paleontology
Ancient sea creature took to land and sea
A primitive relative of the ichthyosaur had strong bones and big flippers.
By Meghan Rosen