Category Archives: boston globe

Using genetic engineering, British researchers have converted one species of yeast into another. Stephen Oliver of the University of Manchester and his colleagues reported in the March 6 Nature that swapping chunks of genetic material can create different species. Oliver … Continue reading →

A highly sensitive imaging instrument aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed a massive, doughnut-shaped cloud of gas around Jupiter. The designers of the instrument — physicists from Johns Hopkins University — reported in the Feb. 27 Nature that the 60,000-ton, … Continue reading →

Black cats are luckier than previously thought — lucky for themselves, anyway. An unusually colored animal would seem to be much more likely to go extinct unless the genes responsible for the color provided some additional benefit to help it … Continue reading →

Linguagen Corp., a biotechnology firm based in New Jersey, has developed and patented a family of compounds that can block the taste of bitter medicines and foods, New Scientist reported last week. The “bitter blockers” work by blocking the production … Continue reading →

It seems that ants aren’t as cooperative and selfless as they’re cracked up to be. Minttumaaria Hannonen and Liselotte Sundstrom of the University of Helsinki report in the Feb. 27 Nature that they have found the first evidence of nepotism … Continue reading →

NASA reported last week that it has finally lost contact with its Pioneer 10 spacecraft. Launched in 1972, the craft had been in service for more than 30 years. Pioneer was the first probe to pass through the asteroid belt, … Continue reading →

Perhaps you’ve heard of astroporn, those gorgeous, glowing images of planets and galaxies and pillars of gas found on Web sites like Astronomy Picture of the Day (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html). But what if you’re looking for something, say, a bit more intimate? … Continue reading →

Mungo Man, Australia’s oldest known human remains, is 20,000 years younger than previously thought, according to James Bowler of the University of Melbourne and colleagues in the Feb. 20 Nature. Mungo Man was discovered at Lake Mungo in New South … Continue reading →

It was long thought that healthy lions posed relatively little threat to people: Only sick or injured animals, unable to catch and kill their usual fast-moving prey, would attack slower humans. For example, the famous man-eating lions of Tsavo that … Continue reading →