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According to the fossil record, the rule of dinosaurs came to an abrupt end ∼65 million years ago, when all nonavian dinosaurs and flying reptiles disappeared. Several possible mechanisms have … [Read more]

The protein kinase TOR (target of rapamycin) plays key roles in the control of fundamental biological processes, including growth, metabolism, aging, and immune function. Sestrin proteins show increased abundance in … [Read more]

Earth's magnetic field protects us from stellar winds and radiation from the Sun. Understanding when, during the Earth's formation, the large-scale magnetic field was established is important because it impacts … [Read more]

Earth's glacial cycles have varied dramatically over time; at one point glaciers may have covered nearly the entire planet. Correlating various paleoclimate proxies such as fossil and isotope records from … [Read more]

Gas-phase sulfuric acid is important during atmospheric particle formation, but the mechanisms by which it forms new particles are unclear. Laboratory studies of the binary nucleation of sulfuric acid with … [Read more]

One aim of the National Ignition Facility is to implode a capsule containing a deuterium-tritium fuel mix and initiate a fusion reaction. With 192 intense laser beams focused into a … [Read more]

Vast quantities of methane are stored in ocean sediments, mostly in the form of clathrates, but methane is also trapped in submerged terrestrial permafrost that was flooded during the last … [Read more]

In the last 20 years glial cells have been elevated from being considered as passive elements during neuronal transmission. By eliciting astroglial calcium rises, so-called gliotransmitters such as glutamate, ATP, … [Read more]

Phagocytosis of apoptotic cells is an integral part of the cell death program and plays critical roles in tissue remodeling, suppression of inflammation, and regulation of immune responses. The clearance … [Read more]

In all sexual eukaryotes a special type of cell division called meiosis produces gametes or spores. For chromosomes to segregate properly to the daughter cells during meiosis, DNA crossovers must … [Read more]

The carboxysome is an organelle-like proteinaceous microcompartment that sequesters the enzymes of carbon fixation from the rest of the cytoplasm in cyanobacteria. Cyanobacterial carbon fixation is a major component of … [Read more]

Between 2000 and 2001, the concentration of water vapor in the stratosphere dropped by about 10%. Water vapor is an important greenhouse gas, so did the decrease affect climate and … [Read more]

Sea-level rise between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the beginning of the Holocene accelerated episodically, with the fastest rate occurring during meltwater pulse 1A (14,000 years ago) … [Read more]

The innate immune system may promote metabolic health through effects on gut microbes.

Authors: Matam Vijay-Kumar, Jesse D. Aitken, Frederic A. Carvalho, Tyler C. Cullender, Simon Mwangi, Shanthi Srinivasan, Shanthi V. Sitaraman, Rob Knight, Ruth E. Ley, Andrew T. Gewirtz

Marine mussel byssal threads have an outer coating in which proteins are linked to metal ions.

Authors: Matthew J. Harrington, Admir Masic, Niels Holten-Andersen, J. Herbert Waite, Peter Fratzl

Nuclei composed of antimatter are found to form in the high-energy collisions of gold ions.

Author: The STAR Collaboration

The presence of an intervening CO2 molecule dramatically changes the electron transfer probability between two halogen atoms.

Authors: Leonid Sheps, Elisa M. Miller, Samantha Horvath, Matthew A. Thompson, Robert Parson, Anne B. McCoy, W. Carl Lineberger

Female lizards improve their fitness by biasing the sex ratio of their progeny on the basis of sire body size.

Authors: Robert M. Cox, Ryan Calsbeek

Scientists in China say they've ruled out reservoir triggering in the disastrous 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. But many earth scientists don't buy their arguments.

Authors: Richard A. Kerr, Richard Stone

Last week's announcement of the first athlete to be caught by a blood test designed to detect doping with human growth hormone to boost muscle mass represents a warning to athletes who may have thought HGH use was undetectable, and it also erases lingering doubts about the test among scientists.

Author: John Travis