New Superhard Form of Carbon

Scientists have created a form of carbon clusters, a hybrid mix of crystalline and amorphous structures starting with carbon-60 "cages," that yields a new superhard material capable of indenting diamond.

Sun's Perfectly Round Shape

With new data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite, astronomers have found the Sun to have an almost mathematically perfect spherical shape that barely varies at all over time instead of a characteristic rotational bulge along the equator, a surprising result that cannot be explained by current models.

Room-Temperature Maser

Researchers have developed a maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) using a simple crystal called doped p-terphenyl, the first practical design to work at room temperature instead of requiring strong magnetic fields that depend upon complex cooling equipment.

New "Glymphatic System" in Brain

Neuroscientists have discovered a previously unknown system that rapidly drains waste away from the brain, a waste clearance network named the "glymphatic system" that shadows the blood vessels and operates much the same way as the lymphatic system in the rest of the body.

Helium in Moon's Atmosphere

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected helium in the thin atmosphere of the Moon, with scientists uncertain if the helium originates from the surface itself via radioactive decay or is captured from external sources such as the solar wind.

Prosthetic Retina Encodes Sight

Neuroscientists have developed a prosthetic retina that works to partially restore sight in mice by pre-processing the visual signals detected and encoding them electronically according to how a healthy retina responds to stimuli before sending the signal to the brain.

Regrown Phantom Hand

A woman born without a finger and a thumb on her right hand that was subsequently amputated after an auto accident has developed a phantom image of her hand, an experience common for amputees but complete with five fingers and a thumb, suggesting our brain has a fully functional map of our body regardless of its physical condition.

Fingertip Circuit Enhances Touch

Engineers have designed a flexible circuit sandwiched into a "nanomembrane" of polyimide plastic and mounted on a silicone shape to be worn over the fingertips to provide electrotactile stimulation for the wearer, enhancing the sense of touch for the wearer for a variety of applications.

Plate Tectonics on Mars

Previously thought to exist nowhere else in the solar system but Earth, scientists have discovered evidence of plate tectonics on Mars in about a dozen satellite images of surface fault systems collected from orbiting spacecraft.

Dark Matter Near the Sun

Astronomers working from a new mathematical simulation of the Milky Way galaxy and applying real data on the positions and velocities of thousands of orange K dwarf stars have obtained a new, more accurate measure of dark matter density, revealing an abundance of the theoretical material surrounding the Sun.

Two New Human Ancestors

New fossil finds east of Lake Turkana in Kenya of a skull and parts of a jaw confirm two previously unknown species of our genus (Homo) living alongside our direct human ancestor, Homo erectus, almost two million years ago.

Moons of Uranus Will Collide

Running thousands of computer simulations varying the masses and known orbits of Uranus' moons Cupid and Belinda, researchers find the orbits of the two moons always intersect on relatively short time scales, implying a collision in the planetary system is inevitable sometime between 1000 and 10 million years from now.

Longer Lives of Females in DNA

Researchers studying the mitochondrial DNA of fruit flies have found that mutations in male DNA affecting how long they live and how fast they age are not continued to subsequent generations as only the female mitochondrial DNA is passed to offspring, providing a clue why females of many species consistently outlive males.

Flexible Electronic Sensor

Inspired by the wing-locking structures of beetles, engineers have developed a flexible electronic sensor composed of layers of tiny polymer fibers that can detect pressure, shear and torsion that rivals human skin, sensitive to forces as light as 5 pascals.