Fruit fly wing research offers window into birth defects

If fruit fly wings do not develop into the right shape, the flies will die. UC Riverside researchers have learned how fly embryo cells develop as they need to, opening a window into human development and possible treatments for birth defects. Biologists often investigate tissue development by studying parts of individual cells. In contrast, the … Read more

Mediterranean diet racks up more points; persistent quantum coherence; vegan dogs

An artist’s impression of VFTS 243 in the Tarantula Nebula. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada. eso.org/public/images/eso2210a/ This week, we reported on the birth throes of black holes, the questionable assertions of a study about vegan dogs and a technique for observing entanglement without breaking quantum coherence. Neutrino predict-ino When a large star burns off its nuclear core, … Read more

Seeing not just with the eyes: Degree of arousal affects perception

The brain modulates visual signals according to internal states, as a new study by LMU neuroscientist Laura Busse reveals. What we see is not simply just a neural representation of the pattern of light in the eye, but an interpretation of this image, to which our needs and expectations contribute. These factors are shaped by … Read more

Why so many animals, including our pets, have a third eyelid—yet humans don’t

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Our family dog used to have a rather noticeable extra eyelid that became especially apparent when he dozed off, usually upturned on the rug. This is the fleshy curtain seen at the corner of each eye, closest to the nose. It’s also commonly called the nictitating (literally “blinking”) membrane. You may … Read more

Diamond glitter: A play of colors with artificial DNA crystals

Using DNA origami, LMU researchers have built a diamond lattice with a periodicity of hundreds of nanometers — a new approach for manufacturing semiconductors for visible light. The shimmering of butterfly wings in bright colors does not emerge from pigments. Rather, it is photonic crystals that are responsible for the play of colors. Their periodic … Read more

Physicists propose path to faster, more flexible robots

Virginia Tech physicist C. Nadir Kaplan (at left) and doctoral candidate Chinmay Katke (right) discovered a microscopic phenomenon that could greatly improve the performance of soft devices, such as agile flexible robots or microscopic capsules for drug delivery. Credit: Spencer Coppage for Virginia Tech. In a May 15 paper released in the journal Physical Review … Read more