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The global observing system provides the raw data climate research relies on. But the quality of the gathered data is patchy. The system needs improvement — on land and on sea.
Brain imaging studies are starting to venture into the legal minefield of research into criminal psychopathy. Alison Abbott reports from one of the most controversial frontiers of neuroscience.
A model based on biophysical principles of plant physiology, and drawing on fossil and environmental data, indicates that the origin of leaves was triggered by falling levels of atmospheric CO2.
Brown dwarfs are sometimes referred to as failed stars because they emit extremely little radiation. Astronomers have now found a brown dwarf that 'whistles' strongly at radio wavelengths.
Studies of biological molecular clocks have benefited greatly from a unicellular fungus. The latest discovery is of a fungal protein required in resetting the clock in response to light.
Variations in sunspot activity affect the weather on Earth, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. New measurements of the Sun's radius and luminosity may help pinpoint the source of the energy responsible.
Neurons are born throughout adulthood in specific regions of mammalian brains. It now turns out that — in rats at least — these new neurons are essential for the formation of one type of memory.
Photosynthesis is the main source of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. But it may have been geological activity that first allowed an oxygen-rich atmosphere to develop.
Some tropical bats make tents by partially biting through large leaves. These living shelters remain healthy for surprisingly long periods because, it seems, the smallest veins maintain water flow even when more major vessels are severed.
The idea that unwanted memories can be repressed has been controversial. An adaptation of an old technique provides an unambiguous model for exploring memory repression in the laboratory.
Overcoming electrons' mutual repulsion is the key to superconductivity. In simple metals, the forces that bind these charged particles in pairs are well understood, but what is the glue in other superconductors?
Flagellin, a protein in the bacterial flagellar motor, has resisted attempts at three-dimensional crystallization — until now. The crystal structure offers hints as to how filaments are able to switch helical states.
In the last few days of 2000 a meteor passed Earth at a close, but safe, distance. Daedalus is more interested in discovering what happened to a meteor that passed within 58 km over North America, and may have actually splashed down to Earth, in 1972.
