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A new ice-core record from Antarctica provides the best evidence yet of a link between climate in the northern and southern polar regions that operates through changes in ocean circulation.
Faint satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are being discovered that are dimmer than some of the Milky Way's star clusters. This finding poses a fundamental question: what are galaxies?
There is a fundamental quantum limit to heat flow, just as there is to electric current. This limit is independent of what carries the heat, and could also have a role in an unexpected quarter: information theory.
Mitochondria supply cells with energy, but in the process produce potentially damaging oxidants. It seems that a protein required to produce new mitochondria also protects against the resulting oxidative damage.
Isotopes formed by the decay of radioactive nuclei provide evidence of how Earth was shaped in its infancy. But some decay products seem to be hidden — a finding that will revitalize a debate about Earth's interior.
Transplants of photoreceptor cells offer hope for treating retinal disease. But getting the cells to make the right connections with the brain has been problematic. It seems the developmental stage of the cells may be the key.
Intermediate compounds are often produced during a chemical reaction, but they are too short-lived to be easily observed. It seems that a molecular pyramid can persuade them to stick around for a little longer.
Mirrors confine light, and light exerts pressure on mirrors. The combination of these effects can be exploited to cool tiny, flexible mirrors to low temperatures purely through the influence of incident light.
Crystal imperfections known as nitrogen–vacancy defects give some diamonds a characteristic pink colour. Appropriately manipulated, these defects might have rosy prospects as the 'qubits' of a quantum computer.
The Antikythera Mechanism, salvaged 100 years ago from an ancient shipwreck, was long known to be some sort of mechanical calendar. But modern analysis is only now revealing just how sophisticated it was.
Data on changes in water storage in the Congo basin show how GRACE, a pair of satellites designed to record variations in Earth's gravitational field, is benefiting the study of the planet's water cycle.
Coercion, not kinship, often determines who acts altruistically in an insect colony. But underlying affinities for kin emerge when coercion is removed: kin selection is what turns suppressed individuals into altruists.
Cells of the same type can generate diverse sets of physiological traits from a single set of genes. Part of this diversity could stem from 'noise' that arises from variations in the way proteins are expressed.
Latitudes at which ancient salt deposits occur show that Earth's magnetic field has always aligned along its rotation axis. One possible implication is that ancient global glaciations were not caused by a realignment of this axis.
It is generally agreed that sleep aids memory consolidation, but the reasons for this are a mystery. Part of the answer may lie in the patterns of synchronous brain activity unique to the state of slumber.
Slipping in extra benzene rings creates a broader DNA double helix that is similar to, but different from, natural DNA. Importantly, it can encode more genetic information — and that could have wide implications.
