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A star, with the not-so catchy name of HE 1523-0901, that's estimated to be 13.2 billion years old (plus or minus 2 billion years) — almost as old as our 13.7-billion-year-old Universe. Despite being so old, it's quite nearby; it's in our Galaxy of the Milky Way.

Linguistic evolution is marked by "punctuational bursts". --Emma Marris

Link shows storms in Africa can cause havoc in the United States. By: Harvey Leifert

A geophysicist in the US has new evidence that the oceans are responsible for the Earth's strange low-frequency hum. Spahr Webb of Columbia University says that low frequency "infragravity" ocean waves interact with one another to make the ocean floor vibrate at a specific set of frequencies between 1-10 mHz. Webb says that his theory is supported by seismic and ocean data, which show correlations between hum and wave activity (Nature 445 754).

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists exploring the physics of hearing have found an underlying molecular cause for one form of deafness, and a conceptual connection between deafness and the organization of liquid crystals, which are used in flat-panel displays.

Supernovae stand out in the sky like cosmic lighthouses. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and at the National Astronomical Institute of Italy have now found a way to use these cosmic beacons to measure distances in space more accurately. The researchers have been able to show that all supernovae of a certain type explode with the same mass and the same energy - the brightness depends only on how much nickel the supernova contains.

A spark flying between a metal doorknob and your hand is an intricate chain of electrical events. Atoms are pulled apart into electrons and ions, and currents flow through the air. In the 16 February Physical Review Letters, researchers report the first direct measurements of the sharply changing electric fields that pave the way for a visible flash in a precisely controlled laboratory arc. Their results provide concrete detail in an area where theoretical modeling remains scanty, and may offer a way to study electrical discharges in settings ranging from plasma televisions to lightning strikes.