IQ ‘can change in teenage years’
Intellectual performance can both improve and deteriorate in adolescenceThe mental ability of teenagers can improve or decline on a far greater scale than previously thought, according to new research.
Until now the assumption has been that [...]
No shortage of dangerous DNA
The genome of a 115-year-old woman is mined for secrets to healthy aging
A Dutch woman who lived to 115 years old credited her longevity to pickled herring, refraining from smoking and limiting alcohol. But scientists are looking to the woman’s [...]
Books on Science: Fiddling With a Two-Year Gap in the Busy Life of Copernicus
Dava Sobel has long taken a quirky approach to science history. In “Galileo’s Daughter” (1999), for instance, she focused not on the standard biographical material but on the scientist’s love for his illegitimate daughter, consigned [...]
UK satellite shows off its vision
The most powerful UK-built imaging spacecraft ever sent into orbit has been demonstrating its capability.
Salt Lake City’s airport, with its terminal buildings, runway and approach roads
Its first pictures since being launched in August [...]
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 [...]
China ready for next space leap
China is taking a stepped approach to the development of its human spaceflight programmeChina is about to launch its first space laboratory, Tiangong-1.
The 10.5m-long, cylindrical module will be unmanned for the time being, but the country’s [...]
Women’s role in science technology jobs takes centre stage at Indian event
The role of women in science has been the focus of attention at an event in India as the government and industry work to provide more opportunities for female scientists.
At the 99th Indian Science Congress in Calcutta the theme was about inclusive [...]
Doomed satellite landed in Pacific, NASA says
Debris from a defunct six-ton NASA science satellite that crashed to Earth on Saturday fell harmlessly in a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean, NASA said on Tuesday.
Experts estimated that as much as 1,100 pounds (495 kg) of debris survived [...]
News in Brief: Life
Birds’ share of dinosaur extinction, the ‘battle’ between cattle and wildlife and more in this week’s news
An extinction to crow about
Ancient birds took a heavy hit in the global catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs, [...]
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 [...]
