MI weekly selection #246
Cloud bands like those around Neptune observed on brown dwarfs
Cloud bands similar to those around Neptune have been detected surrounding brown dwarfs, massive objects that aren’t quite planets and didn’t make the cut as stars. This is the first time cloud bands have been found in brown dwarf atmospheres.
Stimulating perirhinal cortex causes monkeys to view familiar objects as new
Activating neurons in the brains of Japanese macaques caused them to recognize new items as known and familiar items as new. Researchers stimulated different areas of the perirhinal cortex, which is known to have something to do with visual memory, to see how it would affect the monkeys’ identification of objects.
Observation of Ia supernova suggests 2 processes at work
Astronomers have observed a type Ia supernova created by a white dwarf siphoning off material from its huge companion star. The discovery bolsters the contention that two different processes may cause supernovae.
New stem cell procedure may treat extra-chromosome infertility
A new stem cell technique has been used to make infertile male mice with extra sex chromosomes fertile. Researchers used skin cells to make induced pluripotent stem cells, which eliminated the extra X or Y chromosome, allowing sperm cells to form and resulting in pregnancies more than half the time.
Children able to tolerate peanuts long term following allergy treatment
Four years after treatment in a clinical trial, most children with peanut allergies have been able to tolerate the nut. “These children had been eating peanut freely in their diet without having to follow any particular program of peanut intake in the years after treatment was completed,” said Mimi Tang, study leader.