Science Ticker

A roundup of research and breaking news

  1. Health & Medicine

    Here’s the key ingredient that lets a centipede’s bite take down prey

    A newly identified “spooky toxin” launches a broad attack but might be eased with a version of a known drug.

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  2. Life

    A robotic arm made of DNA moves at dizzying speed

    A DNA machine with a high-speed arm could pave the way for nanoscale factories.

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  3. Astronomy

    See a 360-degree visualization of the center of the Milky Way

    A 360-degree simulation, made with data from several telescopes, shows the center of the Milky Way as seen from the galaxy’s supermassive black hole.

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  4. Math

    The largest known prime number has 23 million-plus digits

    A newly found prime number smashes the previous record for largest prime.

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  5. Planetary Science

    NASA is headed to Earth’s outermost edge

    NASA’s upcoming GOLD mission will study the charged border between Earth and space.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    U.S. life expectancy drops for the second year in a row

    Life expectancy for the U.S. population decreased in 2016, the second year in a row this measure has dropped.

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  7. Astronomy

    NASA’s next stop will be Titan or a comet

    The finalists for NASA’s next solar system mission aim to send a drone to Saturn’s largest moon or to return samples from a comet.

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  8. Astronomy

    The most distant quasar ever spotted hails from the universe’s infancy

    The new record-holder for faraway quasars comes from a period of rapid change in the universe.

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  9. Animals

    Here’s yet more evidence that the mythical yeti was probably a bear

    A more complete genetic analysis amps up the evidence that the legendary creatures known as yetis are actually bears.

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  10. Astronomy

    Here is Cassini’s last broad look at the Saturn system

    Two days before plunging into Saturn, Cassini took a mosaic image of the gas giant, its rings and its moons.

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  11. Astronomy

    The Arecibo Observatory will remain open, NSF says

    The iconic Arecibo radio telescope has survived Hurricane Maria and dodged deep funding cuts.

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  12. Physics

    Colliding black holes are reported for a fifth time

    LIGO spots another merger, this time with less fanfare.

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