Latest round-up of science news, including my Intute physical sciences news column.
- ETROP Study MNR – Treatment strategy confirmed for childhood eye disease
- Reviewing peer review – Scientific peer review has many problems and no one seems to know how to address them
- Bots High – A documentary on high school combat robots
- The slow rise of The Andes – Chemical analysis suggests that the Andes mountain range rose much more gradually than scientists previously thought.
- New battery-boosting recipe – Researchers have combined the advantages of lithium metal with the longevity of lithium ion by developing a new type of lithium-metal-free battery that holds charge better and will not "age" as quickly as conventional rechargeables.
- Interplanetary storm – A meteoric storm raged over the Earth 13,000 years ago as thousands of pieces of rock each the size of the Tunguska comet rained down over the course of an hour. The end result was a dramatic cooling of the planet, according to astronomer Bill Napier of the Cardiff University Astrobiology Centre.
- Fly’s identity – That most famous of scientific insects Drosophila melanogaster could be getting a name change to Sophophora melanogaster because it's not actually a dark-bellied dew-lover but a dark-bellied bearer of wisdom