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Japan's mission to collect a sample from a distant asteroid looks to have ended in failure. Ichiko Fuyuno investigates how the setback will affect Japan's struggling space programme.
A number of fatal brain diseases are linked to misfolded proteins, an effect researchers are mimicking in the lab. But as they generate new versions of these malformed molecules, could they be creating a monster? Roxanne Khamsi finds out.
The harlequin frogs of tropical America are at the sharp end of climate change. About two-thirds of their species have died out, and altered patterns of infection because of changes in temperature seem to be the cause.
Magnetic field lines are known to reorganize themselves in plasmas, converting magnetic to particle energy. Evidence harvested from the solar wind implies that the scale of the effect is larger than was thought.
Research on embryonic stem cells holds huge promise for understanding and treating disease. Many people oppose such research on religious and ethical grounds, but two new methods may bypass some of these objections.
Living terrestrial vegetation emits large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. This unexpected finding, if confirmed, will have an impact on both greenhouse-gas accounting and research into sources of methane.
Contrary to the traditional view, the main olfactory pathway can mediate responses to pheromones as well as to common odours. Recent studies show that pheromone-activated hormonal systems extend widely within the brain.
