All Stories
- Ecosystems
Fish Stew: Species interplay makes fisheries management tricky in the long run
Annual fluctuations in certain fish populations can be best understood and controlled by accounting for ecological factors, such as predation by other fish, in addition to fisheries harvests.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Prion Proof? Evidence grows for mad cow protein
Misfolded proteins known as prions can cause disease when injected into the brains of genetically engineered mice.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
EPA to fine DuPont over ingredient in Teflon
The Environmental Protection Agency says it may levy a fine surpassing $300 million against DuPont for concealing evidence that it was contaminating the environment with perfluorooctanoic acid.
By Ben Harder -
Brain development disturbed in autism
A brain-imaging study suggests that autism is characterized by disturbances in the development of the amygdala and the hippocampus, two inner-brain structures.
By Bruce Bower -
19450
This is the most amazing paleontological article I think I have ever read. You state calmly that these “Canadian fossils are the oldest known examples of large, multicellular creatures” and that this type of creature “doesn’t appear to be related to any organisms that have lived since.” Would you please follow up on this discovery […]
By Science News - Paleontology
Early life forms had a modular structure
Fossils recently discovered in northeastern Newfoundland reveal that some of Earth's earliest large organisms had modular body plans whose main architectural element was a branching, frondlike structure.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Dentists: Eschew chewing aspirin
Chewing aspirin or just letting the tablets dissolve in the mouth can seriously damage teeth.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Better Labeling of Major Food Allergens
A bill awaiting the President's signature would require that all U.S. food products identify in plain English the presence of major food allergens—and foster federal research on the incidence and impacts of food allergies.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
PCBs can taint building caulk
Long-banned, toxic polychlorinated biphenyls in some building caulk applied in the 1960s and 1970s may still pose an exposure risk.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Birthing age and ovarian cancer risk
Giving birth confers on women some protection against ovarian cancer, and the later in life the last pregnancy happens, the better the protection.
By Nathan Seppa - Anthropology
Chimps mature with human ancestor
The Stone Age human ancestor Homo erectus grew at about the same pace as wild chimpanzees today do.
By Bruce Bower - Astronomy
Cassini eyes Iapetus
Only a few days after it entered orbit around Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft captured an image of Saturn's split- personality moon Iapetus.
By Ron Cowen