In the August 9 SN: Hunting fast radio bursts, a recall on exoplanets, turning consciousness on and off, the shocks of solitude, plus how electricity powers geckos’ sticky feet.
August 9, 2014
© Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS; H. IZADI
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Magazine
In the Aug. 19 SN: Bulletins from the tick wars, roots of Rwandan genocide, spin-resistant spiders, making mums blue, tardigrade saga continues, HIV antibodies from cows, Maxwell’s demon aces memory test and more.
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Searching for distant signals
Fast radio bursts are bright, brief and seem to come from very far away. Astronomers are pointing major telescopes skyward to solve the puzzle of these cryptic signals. - It's Alive
Parchment worms are best pinched in the dark
Meek tube-dwelling worms have strange glowing mucus and build papery tubes. - News
Clovis people may have hunted elephant-like prey, not just mammoths
The ancient American Clovis culture started out hunting elephant-like animals well south of New World entry points, finds in Mexico suggest. - News
Rare planet circles just one of a pair of stars
A newly discovered exoplanet orbits one star in a binary pair and shows that planets can form even with a second sun nearby. - News
Decline in birds linked to common insecticide
In addition to harming bee populations, neonicotinoid insecticides may also be detrimental to bug-eating birds. - Science Visualized
Wonders of the northern lights
An Icelandic aurora catches a photographer’s eye and a contest prize. - News
Gecko adhesion takes electric turn
Challenging a favored theory, measurements suggest that electrostatic interactions make gecko feet supersticky. - Science Stats
Boot camp bug
Adenoviruses, which cause respiratory illnesses including some colds, plague boot camps. - News
Electrode turns consciousness on and off
Woman lost awareness, though appeared awake, when her brain was stimulated near an area called the claustrum. - News in Brief
Diamonds under pressure impersonate exoplanet cores
Scientists use lasers at the National Ignition Facility to squeeze diamonds to the extreme pressures found inside massive exoplanets.