Most studies of human brain development rely on animals or on brain slices taken after death; both are useful but have limits. Brain models have been mostly two-dimensional or made with a three-dimensional gel, said Rosemarie Hunziker, program director of tissue engineering and biomaterial at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, which funded Dr. Kaplan’s research. None of those systems replicate the brain’s gray or white matter, or how neurons communicate, Dr. Hunziker said. “Even if you get cells to live in there, they don’t do much,” she said. Dr.

scientists at the University of Puerto Rico have developed a system to monitor wildlife in tropical rainforests, using captured audio in real time to remotely record the sounds made by animals. Using hardware that includes iPods, solar panels, and car batteries, the scientists created a network of radio-connected listening posts around the world that allows them to collect data 24 hours a day over long periods of time. The sound will help them track the effects of environmental changes—such as deforestation and climate change—on endangered species.

when native ladybugs munched on harlequin eggs, the insects ended up dead within a couple of weeks. In an attempt to find out why, researchers injected the harlequin's hemolymph (the insect equivalent of blood) into the natives and found that it was lethal. Suspicion fell on a specific chemical compound in the hemolymph called harmonine (named after the genus name, Harmonia). But the new paper does the obvious next step and rules this idea out. They synthesized harmonine, injected it into a native species, and found it had no effect.

What would the world be like if the land masses were spread out the same way as now - only rotated by an angle of 90 degrees?

—Socke

It would profoundly alter our biosphere in general and public radio in particular.

Socke asks what would happen if the Earth’s surface were slid around by 90 degrees, putting our current North and South Poles on the equator. We’re not changing the tilt of the Earth’s axis; we’re just imagining that the surface were arranged differently.