What’s hot in science? Check out NSF research news for the day of April 6 & 7, 2021

Tue, 06 Apr 2021
Healthy sleep may rely on long-overlooked brain cells

Cells called astrocytes can independently promote longer or deeper sleep in mice

For something we spend one-third of our lives doing, we still understand remarkably little about how sleep works — for example, why can some people sleep deeply through any disturbance, while others regularly toss and turn for hours each night? And why do we all seem to need …

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Tue, 06 Apr 2021
Changes in ocean chemistry show how sea level affects global carbon cycle

New analysis of strontium isotopes reveals how the carbon cycle responds to changing climate

A new analysis of strontium isotopes in marine sediments has enabled scientists to reconstruct fluctuations in ocean chemistry reflecting changing climate conditions over the past 35 million years.

The results of the …

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Wed, 07 Apr 2021
Baby stars hatch from stellar eggs near galaxy’s center

Stars form in stellar eggs, cosmic clouds of gas and dust that collapse due to gravity

Astronomers have found stellar eggs containing baby stars around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. To make the discovery, the scientists used NSF’s Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies had suggested that the environment at the galaxy’s …

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Wed, 07 Apr 2021
Researchers look for human disease solutions in opossums

Scientists look for ways evolution fights disease-causing pathogens

Scientists have examined the immune system of an unusual group of mammals, which includes a small South American opossum, to find solutions that evolution has produced to fight disease-causing pathogens.

In a paper in the journal …

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