Research highlights: 1-minute reads

Rarer than gold: wobbling gold

For the first time, physicists have clearly observed a rare and complex motion of atomic nuclei called longitudinal wobbling. Researchers observed the motion -- like that of a spinning top -- in the nucleus of 187Au, which wobbles because of its odd number of protons and neutrons.



A teenager’s body clock can ring in school success

Teenagers tend to sleep later than people in other age groups, and so they would benefit educationally from later school start times. “On the whole, our findings indicate that the morning schedule starts too early relative to adolescents’ internal rhythms,” found a study of Argentinian young people.



We waste double the food that was thought

Globally, people waste an average of 527 calories each per day — more than twice as much food as scientists had thought. As household spending rises above roughly US$6.70 per day per person, the amount of food waste also goes up.



Giant extinct rodent had a tiny brain

An ancient South American rodent had the heft of a St Bernard dog — and a brain the weight of a golf ball. Neoepiblema acreensis, an 80-kilogram rodent related to chinchillas, lived ten million years ago in what is now Brazil.



