Astronomers have discovered a unique stellar system of two white dwarf stars and a superdense neutron star, all packed within a space smaller than Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The closeness of the stars allows the scientists to make the most accurate measurements yet of the system’s complex gravitational interactions, measurements that might resolve one […]
The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a fifth moon – dubbed P5 – orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The new-found moon, visible as a speck of light in Hubble images, is irregular in shape and estimated to be between 10-25 kilometres across. It is in a 95,000 kilometre-diameter circular orbit around Pluto and is […]
A paralyzed woman has been able to reach for and sip from a drink on her own by using her thoughts to direct a robotic arm. Previously, thought control with neural implants had beendemonstrated using monkeys, but this new trial involved the most complex brain-computer functions achieved to date with humans. A report on the […]
Computer simulations of the early solar system suggest the possibility that our system had more than four giant planets initially and that one was ejected as the solar system settled into its current form. Dr. David Nesvorny’s hypothesis, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, depicts the early solar system as a chaotic place, with planets […]
Men may not have been dealt an equal hand when it comes to immunity. Dr. Maya Saleh, of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, reports in a new study that women have a more powerful immune system than men. In fact, the production of estrogen by females could have a beneficial effect […]
Biologists from Brown University have found that eliminating germline stem cells (the cells that make eggs and sperm) lengthens the life of fruit flies and alters the insects’ insulin production. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say their findings indicate that molecular signals from the reproductive system affect aging […]
The synapse elimination that occurs during the normal development of a child’s brain seems to be directed by the immune system, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Beyond understanding how connections are weeded out in a normal, developing brain, the finding could also help explain some neurodegenerative disorders – such as glaucoma, […]
Science magazine this week details the discovery of a stone block in Veracruz, Mexico, that contains a previously unknown system of writing; believed by archeologists to be the earliest in the Americas. The slab – named the Cascajal block – dates to the early first millennium BCE and has features that indicate it comes from […]
Scientists once considered the idea of our sun being part of a binary star system highly unlikely, but the recent discovery of the planetoid Sedna adds credence to the idea that our sun might have a companion star, most likely a brown dwarf. Scientists at the Binary Research Institute (BRI) claim that the orbital characteristics […]
Destroy all bacteria, bacteria are bad; goes the mantra of mothers everywhere and the cleaning product industry. But they could be incorrect, says Stanford University microbiologist Stanley Falkow. In an essay in the latest issue of the journal Cell, he canvases the intriguing idea that persistent bacterial and viral infections may have very real health […]
