Uncategorized
- 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.
- Plants
Fairly bad pitcher traps triumph in the end
Carnivorous pitcher plant traps rarely catch much, but their lackadaisical hunting turns out not to be so lame after all.
- Environment
Funding canceled for clean coal plant
The Department of Energy has scrapped funding for FutureGen, a project to use new technology to sequester carbon dioxide emissions from a coal power plant.
- Animals
Rainforest frogs flourish with artificial homes
A rainforest frog population grew by about 50 percent when scientists built pools for tadpoles that mimic puddles made by other animals.
- Astronomy
Asteroids or planets might trigger a supernova
Rocky debris falling onto a white dwarf might trigger some supernovas.
- Ecosystems
Termite mound paradises help buffer dry land against climate change
Landscapes dotted by Africa’s great termite mounds look on the verge of turning into desert but are, in fact, more resilient.
- Earth
Ice ages boost production of new ocean crust
When sea levels drop during ice ages, magma at mid-ocean ridges surges.
- Materials Science
Oxygen sneaks into titanium, making it brittle
Oxygen atoms trigger defects in titanium’s atomic structure, making the metal brittle.
- Physics
Temperatures taken in the realm of the tiny
Aluminum and other materials can serve as their own thermometers at nanometer scales, opening up the possibility of taking the temperature of tiny computer transistors.
- Neuroscience
Shots of brain cells restore learning, memory in rats
Scientists healed damage caused to rats’ brains from radiation by injecting cells that replenish the insulation on neurons.
