Research News

Science

Researchers Point To The Demise of the Dinosaurs

1:35pm February 08, 2013

The idea that a comet or asteroid impact led to the downfall of the dinosaurs has been around for years. Now, Paul Renne and colleagues report in Science that they've narrowed down the timing of that collision. It's practically simultaneous with dinosaur extinction.

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Scientists have confirmed that the impact of a giant asteroid and the mass extinction of the dinosaurs happened at the same time.

Science

Fresh Clues In Dinosaur Whodunit Point To Asteroid

7:53pm February 07, 2013

by Adam Cole

What killed the dinosaurs? It's history's ultimate murder mystery, and for decades the prime suspect has been a giant asteroid. New data suggest that it struck right before the extinction. But scientists say it still may not tell the full story of what happened to the dinosaurs.

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Science

Scientists Discover Dung Beetles Use The Milky Way For GPS

2:29pm February 04, 2013

A team of scientists has discovered that dung beetles climb on dung balls and dance around in circles before taking off. This dance is not one of joy, however — the insects are checking out the sky to get their bearings. Melissa Block and Audie Cornish have more.

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Highly detailed sonar systems aboard the research vessel Pritchard gave researchers a clear view of the sediment on the seafloor off Long Island.

Sand After Sandy: Scientists Map Seafloor For Sediment

2:29pm February 04, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

On the deck of a 27-foot boat off the shore of Long Island, researchers are using sonar to study the sand and sediment that washed away from the system of protective barrier islands and beaches by Hurricane Sandy.

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Disinfecting robots at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore spray rooms with toxic doses of hydrogen peroxide to kill dangerous drug-resistant bacteria.

Got A Superbug? Bring In The Robots

6:16pm February 03, 2013

Johns Hopkins Hospital is using disinfecting robots to kill dangerous drug-resistant bacteria in its hospital rooms. Since it began using the machines, the hospital has seen the number of untreatable infections fall by a stunning 64 percent.

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The eye of Hurricane Earl in the Atlantic Ocean, seen from a NASA research aircraft on Aug. 30, 2010. This flight through the eyewall caught Earl just as it was intensifying from a Category 2 to a Category 4 hurricane. Researchers collected air samples on

Bird, Plane, Bacteria? Microbes Thrive In Storm Clouds

8:36am January 29, 2013

by Véronique LaCapra

Microbes can thrive in extreme environments, from inside fiery volcanoes to down on the bottom of the ocean. Now scientists have found a surprising number of them living in storm clouds tens of thousands of feet above the Earth. And those airborne microbes could play a role in global climate.

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Science

Canine Mystery: How Dogs Became Man's Best Friend

1:03pm January 25, 2013

Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated, but scientists have long debated precisely how--and when--it happened. With archaeological records and genetic research leading to different hypotheses, are we any closer to understanding how dogs became man's best friend?

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Science

Shakespeare's Sonnets, Encoded In DNA

1:00pm January 25, 2013

Reporting in Nature, researchers write of encoding a variety of files--jpg, mp3, txt and pdf--in strands of DNA. Lead author Nick Goldman says DNA is extraordinarily long-lasting, compared to today's hard drives and magnetic tapes. And if all the world's information were written in DNA, he says, it would fit in the back of a station wagon.

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William Shakespeare, depicted in this 17th century painting, penned his sonnets on parchment. Now his words have found a new home ... in twisting strands of DNA.

Science
Arts

Shall I Encode Thee In DNA? Sonnets Stored On Double Helix

1:19pm January 24, 2013

by Adam Cole

The world is full of data — and that's a problem. We have to find a place to store all those digital photos, tax records and unfinished novels. British scientists have demonstrated a possible solution: They've stored all of Shakespeare's sonnets on several small stretches of DNA.

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Women smoke in New York City's Times Square.

Female Smokers Face Greater Risk Than Previously Thought

1:19pm January 24, 2013

by Richard Knox

One new analysis finds female smokers are more than 26 times more likely to die of lung cancer than nonsmoking women — twice the rate calculated 30 years ago. New data also quantify the surprising payoffs of smoking cessation — especially under the age of 40.

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