Mix of brain training, physical therapy can help paralyzed patients
Training the brain could give paraplegics more control over their bodies. After a year working with devices that link machine to brain, people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries were able…
There’s something cool about Arctic bird poop
Seabird poop helps the Arctic keep its cool, new research suggests. The droppings release ammonia into the atmosphere, where it reacts with other chemicals in the air to form small…
Bacteria help carnivorous plants drown their prey
Bacteria may be a meat-eating plant’s best friends thanks to their power to reduce the surface tension of water. The carnivorous pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica releases water into the tall…
Cells snack on nanowires
Human cells can snack on silicon. Cells grown in the lab devour nano-sized wires of silicon through an engulfing process known as phagocytosis, scientists report December 16 in Science Advances.…
Meat-eating pitcher plants raise deathtraps to an art
Tricking some bug into drowning takes finesse, especially for a hungry meat eater with no brain, eyes or moving parts. Yet California pitcher plants are very good at it. Growing…
Volcanic eruptions nearly snuffed out Gentoo penguin colony
Penguins have been pooping on Ardley Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula for a long, long time. The population there is one of the biggest and oldest Gentoo…
Readers puzzled by proton’s properties
Proton puzzlerUncertainty over the proton’s size, spin and life span could have physicists rethinking standard notions about matter and the universe, Emily Conover reported in “The proton puzzle” (SN: 4/29/17,…
Top 10 discoveries about waves
Physics fans are a lot like surfers. Both think waves are really fun. For surfers, it’s all about having a good time. For physicists, it’s about understanding some of nature’s…
Spread of misfolded proteins could trigger type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes and prion disease seem like an odd couple, but they have something in common: clumps of misfolded, damaging proteins. Now new research finds that a dose of…
Normally aloof particles of light seen ricocheting off each other
Cross two flashlight beams and they pass right through one another. That’s because particles of light, or photons, are mostly antisocial — they don’t interact with each other. But now…