An astronomical calling card, tentatively attributed to mysterious dark matter, seems likely to be due to a more mundane source. An unexplained glow of high-energy light from the center of the Milky Way, first spotted in 2009, raised scientists’ hopes of better pinning down dark matter (SN: 11/20/10, p. 11). That unidentified substance has been […]
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is officially on its way to the sun. After a one-day delay, the probe took off into a dark, cloudy sky over Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket at 3:31 a.m. EDT on August 12. “Here we go,” said 91-year-old solar physicist Eugene Parker, the spacecraft’s namesake, as […]
MILWAUKEE — When it comes to the sex lives of animals, scientists have a slate of explicit terms to describe the proclivities of species. But researchers may be playing a little fast and loose with one of those words. Just what sort of activity qualifies an animal as promiscuous? A review of almost 350 studies […]
Antibodies in the brain can scramble nerve cells’ connections, leading to memory problems in mice. In the past decade, brain-attacking antibodies have been identified as culprits in certain neurological diseases. The details of how antibodies pull off this neuronal hit job, described online August 23 in Neuron, may ultimately lead to better ways to stop […]
A new type of lithium-oxygen battery could pack more energy and last longer than its predecessors. Lithium-oxygen batteries, which are more energy-dense and made of more sustainable materials than typical lithium-ion cells, are promising candidates for the next generation of rechargeable batteries (SN: 1/21/17, p. 22). But lithium-oxygen batteries aren’t widely used yet because they […]
Enteroviruses, including the ones that cause hand, foot and mouth disease, trigger outbreaks in predictable patterns. Some of these viruses, which can lead to everything from fevers, rashes and blisters to meningitis and heart infections, circulate every year or every two or three years. But it’s been unclear how foreseeable those patterns are. Now, based […]
With temperatures creeping up as the climate warms, those very hungry caterpillars could get even hungrier, and more abundant. Crop losses to pests may grow. Insects will be “eating more of our lunch,” says Curtis Deutsch of the University of Washington in Seattle. Based on how heat revs up insect metabolism and reproduction, he and […]
With Martian skies finally clearing after a massive dust storm, NASA engineers have their fingers crossed that the Opportunity rover will soon phone home. Opportunity has been hunkered down in Mars’ Perseverance Valley since early June, caught in a storm that has grown to envelop the entire Red Planet. Since so little sunlight can reach […]
Wildfires are not known for their restraint. They’ll jump rivers, spew whirling dervishes of flames and double in size overnight. Take the Carr Fire — one of California’s most destructive — sparked in mid-July when the rim of a flat tire met pavement. As the blaze grew, it jumped across the Sacramento River and sparked […]
Superconductors are heating up, and a world record-holder may have just been dethroned. Two studies report evidence of superconductivity — the transmission of electricity without resistance — at temperatures higher than seen before. The effect appears in compounds of lanthanum and hydrogen squeezed to extremely high pressures. All known superconductors must be chilled to function, […]