Three Gut Ecosystems

Researchers have found only three broad enterotypes of bacteria (dubbed bacteriode, prevotella and ruminococcus after the dominant species) exist in the human gut worldwide regardless of physical variations in race, age, geography or diet.

Saturn's Geyser Moon

Ultraviolet images taken by the Cassini spacecraft show a glowing patch near Saturn's north pole believed to be the result of charged particles striking the surface after escaping from Enceladus' geysers and being channeled to the planet along its magnetic field lines.

Prehistoric Right-Handedness

Researchers examining scratches on fossil incisors made by indicental contact with stone tools have determined the uniquely human trait of left- or right-handedness of individuals correlates with the markings, placing a 93.1% prevalence for right-handed behavior dating back 500,000 years.

Magnetism and Superconductivity

Scientists have developed a compound of bismuth and nickel only a few nanometers in diameter -- and nonmagnetic under normal conditions -- that exhibits properties of ferromagnetism and superconductivity simultaneously, two phenomena once thought to be mutually exclusive.

Hundreds More Barrier Islands

Using publically available satellite images, researchers have identified 2149 barrier islands worldwide, 657 more than previously known through conventional cartographic measures and navigational charts and demonstrating these islands exist in every climate and tide-wave combination.

Biggest Fossilized Spider

A new fossil from Inner Mongolia containing a species of golden orb weaver spider (Nephila jurassica) is the largest specimen found to date, with a leg span of about 15 cm, and also the oldest example known, dating to 165 million years ago.

Evidence for Nocturnal Dinosaurs

By comparing the fossilized bones located within the eye of archosaurs called the scleral ring and correlating eye sizes and shapes with the habits of modern species, paleontologists have produced the first measure to estimate that some dinosaur species were nocturnal.

Breast Cancer Marker in Dogs

Researchers studying similarities of breast cancer in women and dogs have found that an important tumor marker, the CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) receptor, is essentially identical in both species and opens a broad new area for therapeutic research and treatment of the disease.

New Dinosaur Bridges Gap

The fossilized skull and neck bones of a newly discovered species of dinosaur (Daemonosaurus chauliodus) found in New Mexico helps fill in the evolutionary gap between basal (primitive) therapod species, the two-legged dinosaurs of 230 million years ago, and later theropods.

Yellowstone Magma Plume

Conductivity readings of the magma plume feeding the Yellowstone area have provided the first "geoelectric" three-dimensional image of the underground hotspot, revealing that the buried supervolcano may be larger than originally thought.

Solar System's "Nose" Found

Data from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite has produced a map of our heliosphere, the bubble produced by the solar wind expanding against the interstellar medium, and shown the heliosphere's "nose" or apparent direction our system is moving as it points toward the zodiacal constellation Scorpius.

New Lumpy Gravity Map

Data collected from the European satellite Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) has produced an irregular, lumpy digital geoid of Earth's gravitational field, the most accurate model of the planet's gravity ever produced.

Unprecedented Cosmic Explosion

Several NASA telescopes have teamed up to observe an unprecedented and puzzling x-ray and gamma-ray source (GRB 110328A), one that is brighter, longer-lasting and more variable than typical gamma-ray bursts associated with exploding stars.

Wasps Drop Ants for Food

An experiment with wild wasps in New Zealand has shown that the common wasps (not native to the islands) will pick up ants competing for a food source and drop the still-living insect a short distance away, a competitive, non-lethal behavior never before observed.