New Atlas

Space Audio available

Antarctic meteorite tells the tale of an asteroid that ate a comet

Michael Irving April 15, 2019

Scientists have discovered a tiny fragment of a comet in a meteorite. The bulk of the rock itself was once an asteroid, but when the team cracked it open and analyzed the inside, they found that the growing asteroid must have swept up the seed of a comet billions of years ago.

Scientists have discovered the seeds of a comet inside a meteorite from an asteroid

Medical Audio available

Fecal transplants result in massive long-term reduction in autism symptoms

Nick Lavars April 12, 2019

Scientiists continue to uncover new connections between the gut microbiome and human health. Another example of this are the emerging ties between gut health and autism, with an exciting new study demonstrating how fecal transplants can dramatically reduce its symptoms in the long term.

A two-year study on fecal transplants in autism sufferers has found they can reduce symptoms by ...

Space Audio available

Curiosity's gravity instruments reveal new holes in the story of Mars

Nick Lavars January 31, 2019

NASA’s Curiosity rover and its suite of advanced tools have revealed all kinds of fascinating facts about Mars, but scientists here on Earth have now uncovered a surprising characteristic through one of its more rudimentary instruments, an accelerometer similar to what you'd find in a smartphone.

Medical

Could silk and gold replace stitches and staples?

Ben Coxworth November 2, 2018

If you need to close up an injury or incision in human body tissue, you use sutures, staples or a surgical adhesive … right? Well, if technology that's currently being developed at Arizona State University gets commercialized, liquid silk combined with gold may eventually be a better way to go.

The LANS technology incorporates liquid silk obtained from silkworm cocoons

Space

Alien life could be wiped out by outbursts from violent young stars

Michael Irving October 21, 2018

The majority of stars in our Milky Way aren’t Sun-like – they’re the smaller and cooler red dwarfs. To determine how well these stars might be able to support life, A NASA program is using Hubble to monitor their flare activity, and the first results don’t paint a positive picture.

An artist's rendering of a red dwarf star, which could sterilize exoplanets with its intense radiation ...

Medical

Natural blue clay may kill germs in wounds

Ben Coxworth August 23, 2018

For centuries, various cultures have used clay as a remedy for infections. Now, scientists from Arizona State University (ASU) and the Mayo Clinic have determined that blue clay in particular may indeed be effective at treating infected wounds.

The blue clay contains bacteria-killing iron and aluminum

Space

TRAPPIST planets may have too much water to be habitable

Michael Irving March 20, 2018

A new study on the density of the seven planets in the nearby TRAPPIST-1 system has found that these worlds may have even more water than Earth does – but in a cruel case of having too much of a good thing, that might be enough to drown out any hopes of finding life there.

An artist's rendition of the surface of one of the TRAPPIST-1 planets

Space

13.6 billion-year-old radio signals date back to Cosmic Dawn

Michael Irving February 28, 2018

To look through space is to look through time. Astronomers have now peered right back to the “Cosmic Dawn” – when the first stars were beginning to fire up – by picking up an extremely faint radio signal that marks the earliest evidence of hydrogen, just 180 million years after the Big Bang.

An artist's rendition of the very first stars to appear in the Universe, about 180 million ...

Biology

Easing the brakes on the "immortality" enzyme could slow aging

Michael Irving February 27, 2018

Anti-aging research has long focused on DNA structures known as telomeres, which have been directly linked to cell longevity. Now scientists have discovered a new way to potentially supercharge the mechanism, which may help keep this “molecular clock” – and ourselves – running better for longer.

Supercharging the enzyme telomerase could help stave off aging

Biology

CRISPR-modified ants go "space cadet" without a sense of smell

David Szondy August 13, 2017

A pair of independent studies from two teams used CRISPR technology to genetically alter ants to remove their ability to "smell," which resulted in their inability to interact with normal ants and produced changes in their brains.

Ants detect pheromones though porous hairs on their antennae