Science Daily

• Scientists discover why a 100-year-old mushroom disease won't go away

  Scientists have uncovered a surprising secret behind a mushroom disease that has frustrated growers for more than a century: It involves more than 17 species of harmful bacteria, not just one. The discovery could explain why treatments have struggled to stop the disease and open the door to more effective, eco-friendly solutions.

• NASA captures a stunning transformation in Australia's red outback

  Australia's normally dry, rust-colored outback has erupted into a spectacular carpet of wildflowers after unusually heavy rains, potentially producing its most impressive bloom in nearly 20 years. NASA satellite images capture the stunning transformation, which has even brought rare flowers to the grounds of a remote deep-space observatory.

• NASA spots a giant patch of Moon-like rock on Earth

  An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed a remarkable formation in Madagascar that looks surprisingly similar to the Moon’s bright highlands. Made of anorthosite, a rock abundant on the lunar surface, the formation dates back at least 600 million years and bears the scars of ancient continental collisions.

• Neanderthals may have used prehistoric glue as an ancient antibiotic

  Neanderthals may have used a sticky substance made from birch bark to treat wounds thousands of years before antibiotics existed. Researchers recreated ancient birch tar production techniques and discovered that every sample could inhibit the growth of bacteria responsible for dangerous wound infections. Previously known mainly as a prehistoric glue, birch tar may have doubled as a surprisingly effective natural medicine.

• Scientists accidentally discover a genetic code that breaks the rules of life

  Scientists accidentally discovered a microscopic organism with a genetic code that breaks a rule researchers thought was nearly universal. While testing a new DNA sequencing technique, they examined a previously unknown protist collected from a freshwater pond at Oxford University. To their surprise, the organism uses two genetic signals that normally mark the end of a gene to encode two entirely different amino acids instead. These signals were previously thought to evolve together, making the discovery particularly remarkable.