Biologists wipe out a mouse’s spatial working memory
Working memory is the place we hold temporary information that we're using to handle ongoing tasks, like dialing a phone number or following a set of directions. We often forget these after we're done—unless it's going to ......
Recalling memories while asleep helps lock them in place
Some memories get locked into our brains, persisting for decades. Others slip out by the next day. Researchers have found that the process of recalling a memory actually contributes to this process. When a recent event is...
Weird science finds booze makes its conductors super
We anxiously await superconducting tequila: It's not actually the booze that's superconducting, but it can improve the superconduction of another material. This one's in the arXiv, so it hasn't been through peer review yet, bu...
Feature: Insert <discovery> here: the role of placeholders in science
The comments appear like clockwork every time there's a discussion of the Universe's dark side, for both dark matter and dark energy. At least some readers seem positively incensed by the idea that scientists can happily accept...
Honest raptors refuse to lie about their fitness
Many animals use signals to indicate their general level of fitness, giving potential suitors a hint of how their offspring might fare. For the most part, the effort and energy involved in producing these signals provide an ac......
Infectious cancer cells hop hosts, steal replacement parts
On its own, cancer is a pretty disturbing disease. But over the last few years, we've identified an even more disturbing ability: in at least two cases, cancerous cells have evolved into a communicable disease. Now,...
Slime Mold MacDonald farms its bacterial meals
Agriculture clearly revolutionized human society, but the practice seems to have occurred on a simpler scale among a broad range of species. Termites, ants, fish, and snails all practice simple forms of "farming," in which a f...
Transgenic chickens glow green, block spread of bird flu
So far, the avian flus that have proven fatal to some people haven't started spreading within the human population. But that risk, along with the flu's often fatal effects on the chickens themselves, have led governments to ki......
Earth + 0.4: smallest exoplanet spotted
Today at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society, NASA's Kepler team announced the discovery of the smallest exoplanet yet identified. The planet, called Kepler-10b, is only 1.4 times the diameter of the Eart...
Glaciers continue to shrink, ice sheets at risk in the long term
Over the weekend, Nature Geoscience released two papers that provide some perspective on the changes that are likely to take place as our planet continues to warm. One took advantage of an expanded catalog of glacier measureme...
Weird Science makes obscene gestures at misbehaving cats
Cats really are messing with your head: Something many of us have expected, but it's nice to see it confirmed. Seventy-seven weeks spent observing cats kept in a veterinary vivarium confirms that even healthy cats will start...
College upperclassmen still fail at scientific reasoning
Most of us develop a sort of intuitive logic about how the natural world works. Unfortunately, a lot of that informal reasoning turns out to be wrong, which complicates scientific education. But as students make their way...
