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Safer Down’s test

Invasive testing for Down’s syndrome, which carries a 1 per cent risk of miscarriage, could be cut by 98 per cent by a simple blood test. The test identifies excessive amounts of chromosome 21 in maternal and fetal cells, successfully identifying all 86 confirmed Down’s cases from 753 tested pregnancies (BMJ, ).

Scans won’t change me

Personal genome scans may not encourage healthy behaviour after all. A study of people who received discounted scans has found it has no effect on subsequent diet or exercise. However, the information did make people shown to be at risk of disease more motivated to seek regular medical screening (The New England Journal of Medicine, ).

Baby exoplanet

NASA’s Kepler space telescope has spotted the smallest planet outside our solar system yet. Smaller than previous record holder COROT-7b, newly discovered Kepler-10b is just 1.4 times as wide as Earth, although it is also 4.6 times as massive. This baby exoplanet is far too hot to host life as we know it.

Storms of antimatter

A telescope has been struck by a barrage of antimatter while spying on thunderstorms. The positrons – antimatter electrons – that hit NASA’s Fermi telescope may have been created by the gamma-ray flashes that thunderstorms are known to produce.

Pandas at home

If China wants to save its remaining pandas, it should preserve old-growth forests. A study covering 70 per cent of the animals’ range shows they prefer old trees, perhaps because they contain large cavities that can be used as maternity dens (Biology Letters, ).