Uncategorized
- Life
Designer T cells emerge as weapons against disease
Decades of attempts to boost the immune system’s ability to fight disease are finally starting to pay off. Reprogrammed T cells serve as new weapons against cancer and autoimmune diseases.
By Susan Gaidos - Neuroscience
Legalization trend forces review of marijuana’s dangers
Marijuana legalization advocates tout pot’s medicinal benefits and low addictiveness, while critics point to its neurological dangers. Research shows that the reality is somewhere in the middle.
- Astronomy
Young, hot exoplanet takes title for longest year
Newly discovered exoplanet sits a whopping 2,000 times farther from its star than Earth does from the sun.
- Tech
Lasers heal damaged rodent teeth
Handheld laser spurs stem cells into action, regrowing dentin in drilled teeth.
By Meghan Rosen - Archaeology
First pants worn by horse riders 3,000 years ago
A new study indicates horse-riding Asians wove and wore wool trousers by around 3,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Polio could return after near eradication
Polio was considered eliminated in the United States by 1979, but since then vaccination rates have slipped, prompting concerns about reemergence.
- Animals
Reef fish get riled when intruders glow red
A male fairy wrasse gets feisty when he can see a rival’s colorful fluorescent patches.
By Susan Milius - Environment
Carbon dioxide levels hit landmark in Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere experienced the first full month with the greenhouse gas at or above the symbolic 400 parts per million level.
By Beth Mole - Climate
Violent storms may shatter sea ice
Tall waves’ effect on sea ice hints at troubled water in the future.
By Beth Mole - Particle Physics
Proton’s magnetic properties pinned down
A precise measurement of a proton’s magnetic properties could help reveal subtle differences between matter and antimatter.
By Andrew Grant - Life
Starchy foods more filling than fiber, lab tests suggest
Tests of gut microbe digestion of potato starch and fiber suggest that moving away from grass-heavy ancestral diets may not be the reason for obesity epidemic.
- Animals
New salamander stays young at heart
A new salamander species was long mistaken for the juvenile form of another.