All Stories
- Ecosystems
Forests on the wane
Early last decade, the world’s tree coverage dropped by more than 3 percent.
- Health & Medicine
Baby’s calcium might play defining role in adult bone health
Calcium makes bones strong. But a new animal study suggests that to do this, ample calcium may need to be available from birth. Too little in the early weeks of life may reprogram certain stem cells – those in the marrow – in ways that permanently compromise bone structure. Perhaps even fostering osteoporosis.
- Health & Medicine
Body makes its own morphine
A study in mice suggests other mammals, including humans, can produce the painkiller in their bodies.
- Animals
Chimps may be aware of others’ deaths
Reactions of chimps to dead companions and infants suggest a basic realization of what death entails.
- Health & Medicine
Women of childbearing age still aren’t getting enough folic acid
To head off a risk of neural tube defects, a class of potentially devastating birth defects, women of childbearing age are supposed to get at least 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. A government study now finds that the vast majority of these women fall short. It finds that the national average for women in this age group is some 40 percent below the recommended minimum.
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Feedback
Letters for May 8, 2010.
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Science Past from the issue of May 7, 1960
WHISTLING SWANS DYED TO STUDY MIGRATION ROUTE — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been dyeing whistling swans vivid colors to learn more about their migratory movements. With their wings, tails or other body parts colored blue, yellow, green or red, the swans are easier to observe both when flying and resting on the ground. […]
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Science Future for May 8, 2010
May 12 Students can visit scientists or conduct their own experiments to celebrate National Lab Day. Find local events at www.nationallabday.org May 27 – 30 The Association for Psychological Science hosts its annual meeting in Boston. See www.psychologicalscience.org June 4 – 8 The American Society of Clinical Oncology meets in Chicago. See www.asco.org
- Physics
Lasing Beyond Light
Laser physicists have set their sights on new types of waves — manufacturing beams of sound, creating plasma swells and looking for ripples in spacetime.
- Physics
Inventing the Light Fantastic
The history of the laser: An idea that began with Albert Einstein inspired a race to create a special beam of light that has since infiltrated numerous aspects of everyday life.
- Physics
Laser pioneer reflects on making Einstein’s idea real
Science News reporter Ron Cowen's Q&A with Nobel laureate and laser-technology pioneer Charles Townes.
- Life
Paradox of dining in deep, wet mud
A bonanza of food doesn’t necessarily result in biodiversity among deep sediment dwellers off California’s coast.
