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The “brain in a vat” has long been a staple of philosophical thought experiments and science fiction. Now scientists are one step closer to creating the real thing, which could enable groundbreaking experiments of a much more empirical kind. Research teams at Stanford University and the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan have each discovered methods for coaxing human stem cells to form three-dimensional neural structures that display activity associated with that of an adult brain....

The pigment vermilion has been a favorite of artists for centuries, but it is notorious for turning black as it degrades over time. But the source of the black coloring, found in works ranging from ancient Roman frescoes to the baroque paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, has been unclear. Now researchers have shown that the culprit is elemental mercury, which forms under exposure to light and chlorine ions in the air....

By Bill Chameides After decades of getting it wrong, fisheries management policies are now tackling the root problem – the inability to exclude users of a public resource. Let’s hope new legislation doesn’t undo years of work to get it right. (Wiki Commons | Dankarl) Could a new House bill undo the 2006 fix to our fisheries problem? The Backstory on U.S. Fisheries Management When it comes to the problems plaguing our oceans, they can seem almost as deep as the deep blue itself....

Plants thrive off the nutrient remnants of their ancestors and peers. Trees in a temperate forest draw nitrogen from the soil that is largely derived from the breakdown of the leaves that carpet the ground. From the Arctic tundra to the tropical jungles of Costa Rica, this cycle of decay follows roughly the same rules, according to a 10-year study reported in the January 19 Science. Ecologist William Parton of Colorado State University and his colleagues set out metal mesh containers filled with leaf litter at 21 sites throughout the western hemisphere....

Flooding that overwhelmed much of the interior United States is expected to resume in the next three months and soak communities along the Mississippi River and in the Great Plains for a second consecutive spring, a new National Weather Service river forecast shows. The projected flooding through late April could damage roads and homes, stall levee repairs and force farmers to delay or forgo the planting major crops such as corn and soybeans because the soil would be too wet....

When conditions align perfectly, disaster comes rushing across the Great Plains: a supercell storm, made distinct with its wide, anvil-shaped formation at its top, can unleash hail, lightning and tornadoes. Though the storms are relatively rare, they can last hours; a supercell thrives on upward-moving warm air and downward-moving cold air, and as the two streams travel their separate paths, the latter avoids dampening the former. And though only about 20 percent of supercells generate tornadoes, they account for the majority of the twisters that tear up the U....

Four robbers rushing out of a bank find their getaway car towed and decide to instead hop into … a Toyota Prius. In the 90-second commercial that aired during this weekend’s Super Bowl, the new Prius Four dashes down the highway in an hourslong car chase. It even power slides. The focus on performance is a departure for the Prius, a car beloved by environmentalists but at times criticized for being boring....

On August 14, 2003, shortly after 2 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, a high-voltage power line in northern Ohio brushed against some overgrown trees and shut down—a fault, as it’s known in the power industry. The line had softened under the heat of the high current coursing through it. Normally, the problem would have tripped an alarm in the control room of FirstEnergy Corporation, an Ohio-based utility company, but the alarm system failed....

Ask a physician what the hormone vasopressin is good for, and she will explain that it regulates the volume of water in your body and also affects blood pressure. But since the 1990s, vasopressin has been a hot topic in a very different field: social behavior. And recently it has emerged as a possible target for treating autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which are characterized by social, behavioral and communication impairments. The research is still in early stages, however, and has yielded more questions than answers....

Blast in the Past A supervolcanic eruption packs the punch of a small asteroid slamming into Earth. Some researchers hypothesize that these rare geologic cataclysms could throw up enough ash to affect climate and wipe out local populations. Scientists analyzing the remnants of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred 74,000 years ago in Toba, Indonesia—the largest in the past two million years—report in the July 6 Science that it did not drive away early humans....

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. The thatched roof held back the sun’s rays, but it could not keep the tropical heat at bay. As everyone at the research workshop headed outside for a break, small groups splintered off to gather in the shade of coconut trees and enjoy a breeze. I wandered from group to group, joining in the discussions....

Another Zika mystery is unfolding in Utah. Local and national officials said Monday they were surprised to learn that an elderly Utah resident, who died in late June after a bout with Zika, may have infected a family member who cared for him during his illness. The circumstances of the second infection raise thorny questions about possible new routes of transmission for Zika, which has been known to spread via mosquito bites and sexual contact....

A new exhibition at the Science Museum in London features the personal archives of one of the most influential modern scientists; James Lovelock. ‘Unlocking Lovelock: Scientist, Inventor, Maverick’ tells the story of the British scientist’s work in medicine, environmental science and planetary science, and displays documents ranging from childhood stories, doodle-strewn lab notebooks and patents to letters from dignitaries such as former UK prime minister (and chemist) Margaret Thatcher. Also included are several of Lovelock’s inventions, such as the electron-capture detector that enabled the measuring of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere in the 1970s....

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden pledged that his administration would address inequality and racism. Now that he’s been sworn in as US president, his appointment of a prominent sociologist to the nation’s top science office is raising hopes that the changes will extend to the scientific community. Alondra Nelson, who has studied the societal impacts of emerging technology, as well as racism in science and medicine, will help lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as deputy director for science and society, Biden announced on January 15....

Editor’s Note (12/21/21): This article is being showcased in a special collection about equity in health care that was made possible by the support of Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The article was published independently and without sponsorship. Studies have repeatedly shown that Black patients’ experiences with the U.S. health care system are worse than those of white patients at almost every stage, from infancy to geriatric care. In surgical settings, Black patients experience more complications, receive fewer follow-up visits and are more likely to die....

Researchers are fanning out across the Greenland ice sheet this month to explore a crucial, but overlooked, influence on its future: red, green and brown-coloured algal blooms. These darken the snow and ice, causing it to absorb more sunlight and melt faster. The £3-million (US$4-million) Black and Bloom project aims to measure how algae are changing how much sunlight Greenland’s ice sheet bounces back into space. “We want to get a handle on just how much of the darkness is due to microbes and how much to other physical factors”, such as soot or mineral dust, says Martyn Tranter, a biogeochemist at the University of Bristol, UK, and the project’s principal investigator....

Scientists have kept a close watch on the dazzling northern lights on Earth and other planets in our solar system, but now they have the chance to explore the auroras of alien planets orbiting distant stars, a new study suggests. Auroras on Earth occur when charged particles from the sun are funneled to the planet’s poles and interact with the upper atmosphere, sparking spectacular light shows. Similar processes have been observed on other planets in the solar system, with Jupiter’s auroras more than 100 times brighter than those on Earth, scientists said....

The toaster-sized capsule hit our atmosphere at 12 kilometers per second, enduring temperatures of 3,000 degrees Celsius during its fiery descent before deploying a parachute to slow its velocity. It continued to fall until it finally reached terra firma in the Australian outback. Within hours teams of scientists located the capsule’s landing site with radar and rushed via helicopter to retrieve it. Onboard were pieces of an asteroid, the biggest such haul in history, captured millions of kilometers from Earth and returned safely to our planet....

Exposure to low levels of bisphenol A during development may make men more susceptible to prostate cancer later in life, according to a new study published Tuesday. The study, which uses a new model of implanting human stem cells into mice, is the first to link early-life BPA exposure to human prostate cancer. It adds to a growing body of research that suggests exposure to low doses of the chemical alters cells and can lead to diseases later in life....

A new type of ultrapowerful supernova discovered last year may blow its top again, according to a new study. Researchers report that supernova 2006gy fits a model of star explosion that should have produced two flare-ups already and may culminate in a third before the star fizzles out. A second study proposes that the explosion might have come about from the marriage of multiple stars. SN 2006gy first caught astronomers’ eyes in September....