Fossil beetles show true colours
Beetles’ great abundance today and in the fossil record makes them key environmental indicators
At their brilliant best, the colours of beetles can make the insects look like they are made of some precious metal.
But when these beetles [...]
Herschel:Herschel probes the dusty history of a giant star
About 5 thousand million years from now, our Sun will expand into a red giant, swelling to such a size that it may swallow the Earth. It will then begin to shed huge amounts of dust, surrounding itself with an expanding circumstellar envelope [...]
Bony bacteria
New species builds hard structures inside cells
Scientists have discovered skeletons in the cyanobacterial closet. A never-before-seen species of cyanobacterium loads its cells with little bonelike lumps that may act as ballast, helping to [...]
Profiles in Science | Michael S. Gazzaniga: Telling the Story of the Brain’s Cacophony of Competing Voices
Michael Gazzaniga: An interview with the neuroscientist and professor of psychology known for his studies, and stories, about the brain’s split personality.
The scientists exchanged one last look and held their breath.
Everything was [...]
Introducing the 2011 Nobel Prize winners
If you win a Nobel Prize in physics or chemistry, you’ll receive a medallion just like this one, in addition to fame and money. Credit: Registered trademark of the Nobel Foundation
It’s an annual tradition: Every fall, the Nobel Foundation [...]
Herschel:Herschel finds first evidence of Earth-like water in a comet
A team of astronomers using ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory have discovered the first comet containing water that is similar in isotopic composition to that in Earth’s oceans. This detection, in the comet 103P/Hartley 2, shows [...]
In Thailand, an Innovative Fight Against Cervical Cancer
Maikaew Panomyai did a little dance coming out of the examination room, switching her hips, waving her fists in the air and crowing, in her limited English: “Everything’s O.K.! Everything’s O.K.!”
Translation: The nurse just told [...]
Testing for Disease, for Under a Penny, Using Bits of Paper
While other scientists successfully shrank beakers, tubes and centrifuges into diagnostic laboratories that fit into aluminum boxes that cost $50,000, George Whitesides had smaller dreams.
BIG DEAL A nonprofit company produces diagnostic [...]
A greener way to keep flames away
Flame retardants are used to protect clothing and furniture from fire. But the chemicals are also used to fight forest fires: Special planes may dump thousands of gallons of flame retardants on a blaze to try to get it under control. Credit: [...]
A tale from Long Long Ago
If Karunya wants to borrow books, she switches on her computer, presses a few buttons and makes a wish! The books will reach her the very evening.
Once upon a time, she would have had to travel all the way to the lending library. Not any more, [...]
