A third kind of magnetism, and a gene that may buffer autism

They worked with manganese telluride, a material long filed under antiferromagnets, and used specialized X-rays to find a chirality in its magnetic structure 1. Chirality is a built-in handedness, the way a screw or spiral staircase twists one direction. Lead author Daniel Jost said researchers had spent the past few years collecting phenomena that didn't fit the old two-way split, and this result confirms the third phase is real 1.

New findings show neonatal mortality, deaths in the first month, fell from 9.4 to 5.1 per 1,000 live births after mothers received the money 137. Baby supplies were the top expense, then rent and food 137. An earlier study of the same Flint group found expectant mothers were less likely to smoke, and co-director Mona Hanna points to better prenatal care as a likely route 137.

In the lab-grown progenitor cells, 27 other autism-implicated genes grew quieter in at least 10 of the experiments 195. Mapping the network pointed to ZFX, an X-linked gene that escapes the usual silencing of one X chromosome, so females run it at a higher baseline 81195.

Unlike the millisecond spikes triggered by sight or taste, this one builds over minutes as nutrients reach the digestive tract 82. In mice, activating that pathway trained the animals to prefer a calorie-free flavor, and blocking it completely prevented them from linking a new taste to calories 82. Brain imaging in mice and humans, including PET and fMRI in people, showed stronger responses in the left side of the amygdala than the right 82.

In lab tests the thicker bristles killed about 53 percent of Streptococcus mutans, a cavity-causing species, and 78 percent of Porphyromonas gingivalis, a gum-disease bacterium, against 9 and 8 percent for nylon 37. Adding an antioxidant that neutralizes the reactive oxygen largely erased the effect 11. The bristles stayed soft and kept their electrical properties after three months of use 37. New Scientist also reports more than twice the reduction in plaque, gum inflammation and bleeding versus conventional brushes, with some tests using plaque grown from human mouths on pieces of cow enamel 37.

Archaeologist Miles Russell of Bournemouth University argues in a new book that the ruler was female 36. His case: about 95 percent of Iron Age British names ending in "a" are female, Verica's coins tend to show female warriors on horseback, and the coin inscription read as "son of Commios" could equally be "daughter of Commios" 36. The title "rex" on the coins wasn't gender-specific 36.

Foie gras comes from gavage, where birds are force-fed through a tube several times a day in their last weeks, swelling their livers to as much as 10 times normal size 208. Pro-Animal Future led both campaigns, and its executive director Eva Hamer says the practice is "so visceral" and tied to wealthy elites 208.

All got 26 weeks of peer navigation; half also got HIV prevention medication, opioid treatment and limited clinical services on a mobile unit 79. All-cause deaths were 71 percent lower in the mobile-unit group 79.