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30 articles from ScienceDaily

An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites

Most meteorites that have landed on Earth are fragments of planetesimals, the very earliest protoplanetary bodies in the solar system. Scientists have thought that these primordial bodies either completely melted early in their history or remained as piles of unmelted rubble. But a family of meteorites has befuddled researchers since its discovery in the 1960s. The diverse fragments, found all...

Antiviral method against herpes paves the way for combating incurable viral infections

Researchers have discovered a new method to treat human herpes viruses. The new broad-spectrum method targets physical properties in the genome of the virus rather than viral proteins, which have previously been targeted. The treatment consists of new molecules that penetrate the protein shell of the virus and prevent genes from leaving the virus to infect the cell. It does not lead to resistance...

Big brains and dexterous hands

Primates with large brains can master more complex hand movements than those with smaller brains. However, fine motor skills such as using tools can take time to learn, and humans take the longest of all. Large-brained species such as humans and great apes do not actually learn more slowly than other primates but instead start later, researchers have shown.

How COVID-19 causes smell loss

Loss of smell, or anosmia, is one of the earliest and most commonly reported symptoms of COVID-19. A new study identifies the olfactory cell types most vulnerable to infection by the novel coronavirus. Surprisingly, sensory neurons involved in smell are not among the vulnerable cell types.

Neurons are genetically programmed to have long lives

Most neurons are created during embryonic development and have no ''backup'' after birth. Researchers have generally believed that their survival is determined nearly extrinsically, or by outside forces, such as the tissues and cells that neurons supply with nerve cells. Scientists have challenged this notion and reports the continuous survival of neurons is also intrinsically programmed during...

Project creates more powerful, versatile ultrafast laser pulse

Researchers describe a new device, the ''stretched-pulse soliton Kerr resonator,'' that creates an ultrafast laser pulse that is freed from the physical limits endemic to sources of laser light and the limits of the sources' wavelengths. Applications include spectroscopy, frequency synthesis, distance ranging, and pulse generation.

Desert mosses use quartz rocks as sun shades

Desert conditions are harsh, and mosses often spend much of the year in a dormant condition, desiccated and brown, until rain comes. Researchers discovered two species of moss that found a hiding place under translucent milky quartz where they can stay moist and green and continue to photosynthesize and grow while other mosses on the soil surface go dormant. This is the first green plant known to...