All Stories
- Health & Medicine
When body meets H1N1 flu
Two studies map interactions between virus and human cells; one study reveals natural flu fighters.
- Anthropology
Stone Age campers set up separate activity areas
Hominids displayed advanced organizational thinking almost 800,000 years ago
- Climate
Tiny Tuvalu could quash climate deal
Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia brags that his tiny 9-island state of Tuvalu is the world’s smallest independent country. Its 10,000 inhabitants live an average of 2 meters above sea level, which makes their homeland highly vulnerable to disappearing with even modest sea-level rise. With the nation’s survival so dependent on climate protection, he vowed today that Tuvalu will not sign onto any climate-change accord that does not require “legally-binding” language and programs aimed at ensuring global temperatures peak at “well below” 1.5 oC. That could effectively torpedo hopes for a climate accord tomorrow when the United Nations climate change meeting is slated to wrap up.
- Climate
U.S. backs $100-billion-a-year plan for climate adaptation
Blog from Copenhagen: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at the climate talks December 17, and debate continued over how much 'transparency' countries are willing to accept.
- Health & Medicine
Gene variant may help against emphysema, asthma
Uncommon version seems to lessen risk of lung disease in smokers.
- Earth
For coots, hatching order is crucial ID
When birds sneak eggs into others' nest, mom and dad can learn to find their own.
- Earth
Seismology in your backyard (and on your Twitter feed)
With two USGS programs, Twitter, inexpensive seismic equipment transform citizens into scientists.
- Health & Medicine
Mom and Dad not equally to blame for some bad genes
Common genetic variants may have different effects on disease depending which parent passes along the trait.
- Space
Super-Earth found close by, may host water
Astronomers say this discovery and others suggest that finding habitable planets is 'only a matter of time.'
- Earth
Earth’s magnetic field … updated
Three most used models of Earth's magnetic field are revised to reflect small changes in the field.
- Climate
IPCC to offer climate science scholarships
The Nobel Peace Prize will pay dividends in the developing world by funding scholarships for climate-science studies. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the 2007 Nobel Prize, announced today that it is investing its winnings as seed money for these scholarships. They’d go to residents of nations expected to experience dramatic impacts of climate change.
- Climate
Climate chief channels Truman, but …
On Monday, long chaotic lines kept several thousand accredited conference attendees – some standing in the freezing cold for up to 11 hours -- from being allowed to register for the United Nations climate change meeting. “Who’s to blame? Me,” said de Boer, head of the United Nations climate change office. “Part of the problem that we’re facing here is that you can’t fit size 12 feet into size 6 shoes.”
