Eggs on demand
Firing lasers at transparent worms makes them lay eggs on cue. Researchers engineered the worm Caenorhabditis elegans to contain light-sensitive proteins in its cell membranes, which were then used to control the nerves involved in egg laying (Nature Methods, ). Similar technology could one day be used to treat blindness or spinal injuries.
Hello Galaxy X
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A massive companion to the Milky Way may lurk unseen behind clouds of dust. Sukanya Chakrabarti of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues inferred the presence of 鈥淕alaxy X鈥� by the way it disturbs dust clouds in our galaxy. They hope to use the Spitzer space telescope鈥檚 infrared vision to peer through the dust at the galaxy.
Wet future for Bangkok
Sea levels in the Gulf of Thailand are rising at around 4 millimetres per year, far faster than the global average of 1.8 mm per year (). Bangkok and other coastal cities face more frequent flooding as a result.
Black hole record
With 6.6 billion times the mass of the sun, the hulking black hole in the nearby M87 galaxy is the heaviest yet measured exactly. To weigh it, Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas in Austin and colleagues used new measurements of its effects on surrounding stars made by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii.
Hardy bedbugs
Ways to combat insecticide-resistant bedbugs could be a step closer. Compared to non-resistant bedbugs, resistant bugs had excessively active genes making enzymes such as cytochrome P450s, which detoxify pyrethroid insecticides ().