Laser Beams That Curve
Two years ago physicists demonstrated that a laser beam traveling through the air can bend slightly if certain components are asymmetrical, forming what is called an Airy beam. Now researchers have shown that pulsed, high-intensity versions can leave curved trails of plasma. Shot out like a stack of pennies, each pulse, one centimeter wide and lasting 35 femtoseconds, passes through a glass plate that turns it into a triangular shape, in which an intense peak falls on one side of several weaker peaks. The brightest part heads in one direction, while the dimmer ones go the opposite way. (The momentum of the entire pulse remains straight, however.)

Being extremely intense, the bright spots ionize the air behind them and leave a curved plasma stream in their wake. The self-bending beam, described in the April 10 Science, does not curve by more than the beam’s diameter, but that amount is enough to help physicists probe the structure of laser pulses.  —Larry Greenemeier

Calorie-Burning Fat
Once thought to disappear after infancy, the calorie-burning tissue known as brown fat may actually be keeping some adults slim. Newborns have brown fat to help generate body heat, but it seems to melt away as part of the aging process. A new study shows that some adults, especially those with a healthy body mass index, maintain reserves of the good fat that is metabolically active. The work, published in the April 9 New England Journal of Medicine, could potentially point to novel obesity-fighting compounds.  —Coco Ballantyne

Have a Nice Trip
Man’s best friend could be one of man’s biggest hazards. Pets cause nearly an estimated 87,000 falls that need emergency room treatment every year in the U.S., according to the March 27 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. A quarter of the tumbles happened when owners were walking their dogs, and twice as many women as men were hurt. Most injuries occurred in children and those 35 to 54 years old, but people 75 or older suffered the most serious damage.  —Jordan Lite

Eggs Not Over Easy
Infertility treatments operate under the assumption that women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. But researchers reporting online April 14 in Nature Cell Biology claim they have found precursor stem cells in newborn and adult mice that could be prodded into producing new eggs. The scientists grew these cells in a petri dish and implanted them in mice engineered to be infertile. Although some of the mice subsequently gave birth, more studies will be needed to confirm the results.  —Jordan Lite

Note: This article was originally published with the title, "News Scan Briefs".

3 Comments

1. 1. alimoayed 09:53 PM 5/23/09

   I could not find any reference about electromagnetic chatter , would you please give me one reference? My email is : alimoayed@gmail.com

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. jack.123 04:33 PM 6/12/09

   Could we be looking at the first development of eyes?

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. ashwinkhandal 03:11 PM 4/15/10

   sir i need information of hospitals where i can transplant my hand............i am from india please send me some new updates on my i.d............thanks

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this