Category Archives: news briefs

Do you find opera perplexing? Grossly overweight consumptives notwithstanding, many people have trouble figuring out what the performers are actually singing, even when the opera is in their native language, hence the ubiquity of electronic subtitling in opera houses today. … Continue reading →

A cool, calm lake. Your dog frolicking along the beach. Your significant other admiring your attempt to skip a stone across the water — and, to your deep embarrassment, it plops straight down with nary a bounce. Has this ever … Continue reading →

When most people think of the color of the universe, the black of its vast, inky depths probably comes to mind. If it were possible to view the average of all the visible light in the universe, the true color … Continue reading →

Want the best champagne for your New Year’s Eve bash? Look for the bubbly with the smallest bubbles, report French scientists in the Dec. 17 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Gerard Liger-Belair of the University of … Continue reading →

With the glut of cholesterol-free everything on the market, now comes the cholesterol-free mouse, reports an international team of researchers in the Dec. 19 Science. Cholesterol, despite being notorious for clogging arteries and contributing to heart disease and strokes, has … Continue reading →

What would the holidays be like without those almost-impossible-to-crack dark-brown Brazil nuts on the table? We might find out if the Brazil nut industry doesn’t change its ways, says a study in the Dec. 19 Science. Brazil nut trees are … Continue reading →

Silver was the most popular car color in the United States, Europe, and Asia last year, according to the most recent DuPont Global Color Popularity report, and its popularity doesn’t appear to be waning. Silver is a safe choice, in … Continue reading →

When you think of the heroes of the animal world, rats don’t usually come to mind. Oh, sure, they’ve been used in countless experiments that have greatly enhanced scientific knowledge, but they’re not working right by our side like dogs, … Continue reading →

Scientists may not be able to turn back time, but physicists at Harvard University have stopped light in its tracks. Mikhail Lukin and colleagues have brought light, which normally travels at a phenomenal 186,000 miles per second, to a complete … Continue reading →

From bacteria to mice to men, add the chimpanzee, our closest relative, to the growing number of creatures having their genomes — their genetic blueprints — sequenced and decoded. Eric Lander of the Broad Institute, a joint venture between the … Continue reading →