Uncategorized
- Earth
In Antarctica, melting may beget ice
Disintegration of floating glaciers could be responsible for freezing of seawater.
- Physics
Sound cloaks enter the third dimension
Concept could lead to sonar-defeating submarines or noise-cancelling highway barriers.
- Earth
Fungi pull carbon into northern forest soils
Organisms living on tree roots do the lion’s share of sequestering carbon.
- Animals
Termites, not fairies, cause plant circles in African deserts
Underground insect engineers create water traps in the soil, allowing rings of green grasses in the sand.
- Earth
Kansas was unbearably hot 270 million years ago
Temperatures soared to nearly 74 degrees Celsius, which no plants or animals could endure.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis C drug goes after patients’ RNA
An experimental medicine that targets a type of RNA in the liver leads to reduced virus levels in patients.
- Life
Blind cave-dwelling fish also hard of hearing
Two species that live in the dark have worse hearing than do their surface-living cousins.
- Life
Gut microbes may be behind weight loss after gastric bypass
Mice slim down after receiving bacteria transplanted from rodents that had the surgery.
- Psychology
Competition brings out autism’s social side
Given motivation, kids with autism can appreciate what other people think and believe.
- Life
Impending death alters crickets’ standards for mates
With a short time to live, parasite-infested females lose their preference for fast-chirping males.
- Life
Longhorn cattle ancestors came from Pakistan
New World breeds trace back to both major bovine lineages, genetic analysis shows.
- Physics
Highlights from the American Physical Society meeting
Highlights from the March meeting, held in Baltimore on March 18-22, 2013, include how fire ants need a little water to dig deep, what makes trees scream and a tiny crystal that can squeeze through an even tinier tube.
