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Scientists have discovered an extrasolar planet using a technique known as gravitational microlensing. This is the second such planet found using the method, which measures a planet’s effect on light from a distant star. The new planet weighs about three times as much as Jupiter and orbits a star similar to our sun. “This discovery is the tip of the iceberg for microlensing searches,” says team member Scott Gaudi of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics....

KURCHATOV, Kazakhstan—A few years ago, the nuclear research center here was dying. Its once thriving population of 40,000 was reduced to 5,000 and appeared to be headed to zero. The town of Kurchatov, where much of the Soviet Union’s nuclear research was carried out during the Cold War in preparation for more than 400 nuclear test explosions, was returning to its origins as a place of oblivion, just another spot on the desolate steppe where little more than feather grass grows....

Trees in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, including giant sequoias, need sunlight, water and just the right kind of granite to grow, a new study finds. The findings help explain the surprisingly patchy growth patterns in one of the most productive forests in the world. Visitors to the western Sierra’s lower elevations may find themselves abruptly stepping from a lush redwood grove onto sun-lashed bedrock. “Bedrock can be just as strong as climate in controlling where vegetation does and doesn’t appear in the Sierra Nevada,” said Jesse Hahm, a geologist at the University of Wyoming and lead study author....

Sonny Dickson, who is a frequent leaker of all things Apple hardware, has posted a rather large gallery of the rear case of a white, plastic iPhone. It’s just a piece of the device, so there are no internals inside, just some mounts for various components. Also of note is that there don’t appear to be any openings for the typical volume buttons and mute switch, which have been included on each and every iPhone model so far....

In June 2004 I was asked to examine a 22-year-old woman who had just graduated from college and was engaged to be married. During the months leading up to her graduation, Shirley (not her real name) had been plagued by a nagging cough. Eventually a computed tomographic (CT) scan revealed multiple masses in and around her lungs. A biopsy indicated metastatic melanoma that had spread from a skin cancer Shirley did not know she had....

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Luke Skywalker wasn’t just a farmer. In the original 1977 Star Wars film, the lead character was desperate to leave his home planet of Tatooine, where his family farmed moisture from the atmosphere using devices called “vaporators”. In the planet’s hot and dry desert landscape, moisture farming was an important activity for survival. But could this principle of drawing moisture from the air to provide drinking water work in the real world?...

The largest trial to date of “brain-training” computer games suggests that people who use the software to boost their mental skills are likely to be disappointed. The study, a collaboration between British researchers and the BBC Lab UK web site, recruited viewers of the BBC science program “Bang Goes the Theory” to practice a series of online tasks for a minimum of ten minutes a day, three times a week, for six weeks....

The nocturnal dot-underwing moth may use shape-shifting patterns on its wings as a stealthy way to attract mates in the dark. In a study published last September in Current Biology, scientists report the discovery on males’ forewings of three patches that change darkness and size when viewed from particular angles. In females, the entire forewing darkens. Although butterfly and moth species that are active during the day are known to employ dynamic visual effects to communicate, researchers had thought their nocturnal cousins relied almost exclusively on chemical signals because of the lack of light....

A team of researchers has devised perhaps the world’s most intricate coin toss, a device utilizing vacuum chambers, magnetic fields, lasers and microwave pulses to produce a random string of 0s and 1s—each representing heads or tails, essentially. The complexity is necessary to move the generation of random numbers beyond the hard-to-predict but fundamentally deterministic world of classical physics and into the realm of quantum mechanics, where uncertainty takes hold....

You are what you eat, and so are the bacteria that live in your gut. Microbiologists have known for some time that different diets create different gut flora, but previous research has focused on mice instead of humans, leaving the actual relationship between our food and our stomach bacteria unclear. A new study, published Wednesday in Nature, indicates that these changes can happen incredibly fast in the human gut—within three or four days of a big shift in what you eat....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Boudicca (died 61 CE) was the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe who led a revolt against Roman occupation of what is now East Anglia, England. So charismatic was Boudicca that ancient sources record tribes joining her revolt which would not normally have supported an Iceni-led objective. Boudicca was the wife of the Iceni King Prasutagus who ruled his lands as an independent ally of Rome and who, therefore, left his estate divided between Emperor Nero of Rome and Prasutagus’ wife and two daughters....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Dolmens (in Korean: koindol or chisongmyo) are simple structures made of monolithic stones erected during the late Neolithic period or Korean Bronze Age (1st millennium BCE). In ancient Korea they appear most often near villages and the archaeological finds buried within them imply that they were constructed as tombs for elite members of the community....

Did you like this interview? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The first comprehensive survey of Sri Lankan art organized by an American museum, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, on show now at the LACMA in Los Angeles, California, presents some 250 works addressing nearly two millennia of Sri Lankan history and art. Featuring LACMA’s rarely displayed collection of Sri Lankan art—one of the finest and most extensive in the U....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Located west of the Danube, Pannonia was essential for the protection of the Roman Empire’s eastern frontier. It had been occupied since 9 BCE but did not willingly accept Roman authority. Pannonia and Dalmatia revolted in 6 CE, and it would take three years and a total of eleven legions to finally bring Roman victory in 9 CE....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The Christianization of Armenia began with the work of Syrian apostles from the 1st century CE and was boosted in the early 4th century CE by such figures as Saint Gregory the Illuminator, who converted the Armenian king and spread the gospel message. A more complex process than legendary accounts portray, Armenia’s adoption of Christianity was, nevertheless, a momentous chapter in the country’s history, as the historian R....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The so-called Hyphasis Mutiny was a conflict between Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) and his army following their victory at the river Hydaspes in 326 BCE. Alexander voiced plans for further conquests in the Indian subcontinent, however, when his men reached the river Hyphasis, there was an open revolt....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Trade in raw materials and manufactured goods in ancient Celtic Europe was vibrant and far-reaching, particularly regarding the centre of the continent where there was a hub of well-established trade routes. As the Celts’ territory expanded, so their trade networks encompassed the Mediterranean cultures (Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans), Iberia, and Britain....

What Is a Bird? An Exploration of Anatomy, Physiology, Behavior, and Ecology edited by Tony D. Williams Princeton University, 2020 ($35) Many housebound quarantiners have recently discovered a new—or renewed—interest in birds. Through windows overlooking gardens or fire escapes and in small parks or dense woods, birds occupy nearly every habitat on earth and are our constant, if sometimes unnoticed, companions. This welcoming compendium is part coffee-table book and part deep dive into the science of ornithology—the team of biologist-authors, edited by biology professor Williams, elucidates all things bird: from their evolution and anatomy to their social and migration patterns....

The baby blue and orange-spotted tokay gecko—whose creaky calls of to-kay provided its onomatopoeic name—have always been ubiquitous throughout Southeast Asia, southern China and India. The wall-climbing reptiles often reside in restaurants, gardens and homes, where they help control insect pests. In recent years, though, they have begun to be traded by the millions on the international market—and evidence is emerging that the species is in quick decline, says Vincent Nijman, an anthropologist at Oxford Brookes University in England....

On the shores of the Red Sea, near a small fishing village called Thuwal, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is launching a university with the ambition of making it a world leader in science and technology. Not only will the school—called King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)—possess one of the 10 largest university endowments in the world, it will also allow women and men to study side by side....