From twitching lizards to noisy frogs, adaptation is often survival of the weird
One of the Eastern fence lizard's main tactics for avoiding predators—holding absolutely still—make it an easy target for a new enemy, the invasive fire ant from South America. Image: Provided by Tracy Langkilde
Clump of a star's gas, catapulting into space at 40 million miles per hour, appears to be picking up speed
This artist's drawing and trio of X-ray images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory illustrate that a clump of stellar material has been jettisoned away from a double-star system at incredibly high speeds. Credit:X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/G.Pavlov et al; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
Some Vaccines Support Evolution of More-Virulent Viruses
Credit: Andrew Read, Penn State University
Increasing prevalence of autism is due, in part, to changing diagnoses
Click on the image for a high-resolution version. This graph shows the number of students (per 10,000) diagnosed with autism (blue) and intellectual disability (red) in special-education programs in the United States from 2000 to 2010. The increase in autism diagnoses during this period was offset by decreases in the diagnosis of intellectual disability, suggesting that shifting patterns of diagnosis may be responsible for increases in autism diagnosis. Credit: Penn State University
2D materials researchers aim 'beyond graphene': In the realm of 2D materials, weirdness works
Each of these triangular pieces of material is a monolayer of tungsten disulfide. Under some conditions, as seen here, these monolayers emit red light. Image: The Terrones group, Penn State University
How the Mammoth Got its Wool: Genetic changes are identified that helped the woolly mammoth survive in the Arctic
Woolly mammoths Credit: Image Courtesy of Giant Screen Films © 2012 D3D Ice Age, LLC
Black hole, quiet since 1989, now caught burping a rare X-ray flare
On June 15, NASA's Swift caught the onset of a rare X-ray outburst from a stellar-mass black hole in the binary system V404 Cygni. Astronomers around the world are watching the event. In this system, a stream of gas from a star much like the sun flows toward a 10 solar mass black hole. Instead of spiraling toward the black hole, the gas accumulates for decades in an accretion disk around it. Every couple of decades, the disk switches into a state that sends the gas rushing inward, starting a new outburst.
Lord of the Rings: Astronomers Pinpoint the Location of a Mysterious Neutron Star with Superlative Rings of X-ray Light
Chandra data of the Circinus X-1 star system reveal a set of four rings that appear as circles around the system's neutron star, providing a rare opportunity to determine the distance to an object on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy. CREDIT: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U. Wisconsin/S. Heinz et al.; Optical: DSS.
A First: Exoplanet smaller than Earth gets its size and mass measured
The planetary system harboring Kepler-138b, the first exoplanet smaller than Earth with both it mass and size measured. In this artist's conception, the sizes of the planets relative to the star have been exaggerated. Credit: Danielle Futselaar, SETI Institute
Disabling infection-fighting immune response speeds up wound healing in diabetes
Shown in blue is chromatin -- the condensed form of DNA that the cell remodels to form chromosomes. The PAD4 enzyme decondenses chromatin by loosening up the interaction between DNA and special proteins called histones. The histones modified by PAD4 are shown in fuchsia. This process helps to form both a bacteria-killing NET -- which is comprised of infection-combatting white blood cells called neutrophils -- and the fluffy, scattered ball that comprises a blood clot. Wang lab, Penn State University.
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