Uncategorized
- 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.
- 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.
- Climate
Violent storms may shatter sea ice
Tall waves’ effect on sea ice hints at troubled water in the future.
- 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.
- 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.
- Tech
Coffee beans sing distinct tune
Measuring the crackling noises made by roasting coffee beans could help engineers create automatic acoustic roasters.
- Life
Drab female birds had more colorful evolution
Males weren’t the main players in evolution of sex differences in avian plumage.
- Astronomy
Sun shines new life on Kepler space telescope
NASA approved a proposal to bring the crippled Kepler spacecraft back to life, using sunlight as balance to help the telescope search for planets and more.
- Psychology
Recessions take a lasting toll on narcissism
Coming of age in hard economic times makes people less likely to feel superior and entitled later in life.
- Life
Flightless birds’ history upset by ancient DNA
The closest known relatives of New Zealand’s small, flightless kiwis were Madagascar’s elephant birds, so ancestors must have done some flying rather than just drifting with continents.
