Science Ticker
A roundup of research and breaking news
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Asteroid impact did not form the moon’s largest plain
The moon's vast flatland — called Oceanus Procellarum — may have been formed through tectonic-like activity billions of years ago, scientists say.
- Planetary Science
Daily winds shift sands of Martian dune field
Martian winds may stir the Red Planet's sands more often than scientists thought.
- Neuroscience
White House gives progress report on BRAIN Initiative
More pieces of President Obama’s ambitious BRAIN Initiative announced April 2013 have fallen into place.
- Health & Medicine
Ebola case identified in Dallas
The first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the United States was announced September 30 in Texas.
- Animals
Dolphins appear to perceive magnetic fields
Bottlenose dolphins take less time to start exploring a magnetized block, suggesting they can sense magnetic fields.
- Animals
Videos hint at why tree bats may die at wind turbines
Using heat-sensitive cameras, scientists were able to watch how tree bats interact with wind turbines and determine what behaviors may lead to their deaths.
- Paleontology
Strange fossils from China hint at early multicellular life
New fossils of strange, oblong organisms that lived 600 million years ago are giving scientists hints to how living things may have moved from being single- to multi-celled.
- Health & Medicine
Growth in diabetes diagnoses starting to slow in U.S.
The percentage of the population diagnosed with diabetes and the rate of new cases per year rose sharply between 1990 and 2008 but haven't grown quite as quickly between 2008 and 2012.
- Planetary Science
MAVEN spacecraft set to explore Martian atmosphere
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft entered into orbit around the Red Planet on September 21.
- Health & Medicine
Obama takes aim at antibiotic resistance
The White House offers an incentive for better diagnostics and calls for new meds and more stewardship programs against antibiotic resistance.
- Science & Society
World population may reach 12.3 billion in 2100
The number of people on the planet is likely to keep rising over the next century.
- Genetics
Genetic data rewrite the prehistory of Europe
The genomes of nine ancient and 2,345 living humans have changed the story of modern Europeans' origins.
