A new hypothesis by computational physicists states that "zombie vortices" help lead to the birth of a new star.

They even find a way to make it about angular momentum, saying that variations in gas density lead to instability, which then generates the whirlpool-like vortices needed for stars to form.

Astronomers accept that in the first steps of a new star's birth, dense clouds of gas collapse into clumps that, with the aid of angular momentum, spin into one or more Frisbee-like disks where a protostar starts to form. But for the protostar to grow bigger, the spinning disk needs to lose some of its angular momentum so that the gas can slow down and spiral inward onto the protostar. Once the protostar gains enough mass, it can kick off nuclear fusion.

 Around the world, more than two billion tons of trash is generated each year. America leads the world in accurate reporting of trash levels and therefore has the distinction of throwing away more than any other country. Understanding why consumers throw recyclable products into the garbage instead of recycling them could help companies and public policy makers find novel ways to encourage consumers to step up their recycling efforts. 

A paper in the Journal of Consumer Research examines recycling habits and finds that consumers are more likely to toss a dented can or a chopped-up piece of paper into the trash than to recycle it.

A new case study outlines the instance of a 60-year-old woman who suddenly began hearing music, as if a radio were playing at the back of her head.

She couldn't identify the music but when she hummed or sang the tunes, her husband was able to recognize them. She didn't know the songs but she was hallucinating music familiar to people around her. 

Neurologists Danilo Vitorovic and José Biller of Loyola University Medical Center say the case raises "intriguing questions regarding memory, forgetting and access to lost memories."

It's best not to think too much about this before your next flight but, even while on the ground,aircraft landing gear can have shimmy oscillations during taxiing, takeoff, and landing.

Reducing the expression of a pair of proteins known as NEETs, NAF-1 and mitoNEET, significantly reduced cancer cell proliferation and breast cancer tumor size, according to a new paper.

NEET proteins transport iron molecules or iron sulfur clusters inside cells. The proteins naturally adhere to the outer surface of the mitochondria, the "power plant" that supplies cells with chemical energy. Mitochondria also play a role in a cell's life cycle, including its death.

The new research stemmed from a recent CTBP study of the shape and functions of one of the proteins, mitoNEET. The other protein, NAF-1, is closely related to mitoNEET.

A technique from Case Western Reserve University seeks to address two challenges inherent in brain-implantation technology; gaging the property changes that occur during implantation and measuring on a micro-scale. 

The authors seek to make some progress down the bioengineering path — crafting a device that can withstand the physiological conditions in the brain for the long-term.