All Stories
- Health & Medicine
Flawed Therapy: Hormone replacement takes more hits
Elderly women taking estrogen and progestin are more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and stroke than are women not taking the hormones.
By Nathan Seppa -
Gut Check
The normal microbial inhabitants of our intestines do a lot for their host.
By John Travis - Astronomy
Red Team, Blue Team: Galaxy survey shows that color matters
Using the largest survey of galaxies ever compiled, astronomers have found that the cosmos divides sharply along color lines.
By Ron Cowen - Planetary Science
New view of Earth
On May 8, 2003, scientists pointed a camera on board the Mars Global Surveyor probe back at Earth and captured the first image from another planet that shows our world as more than a point of light.
By Sid Perkins -
Memorable Shot: Smallpox vaccine has lasting effect
People vaccinated against smallpox decades ago may retain significant immunity to the virus that causes the disease.
By John Travis - Agriculture
Mad Cow Future: Tests explore next generation of defenses
As Canadian health officials investigate mad cow disease within the country's borders, researchers are already working on the next generation of defenses.
By Susan Milius - Chemistry
Multiple Motions: Applied electrons make molecules vibrate and move
A new technique enables scientists to choreograph individual molecules to vibrate, break bonds, and move on a surface in specified ways.
- Earth
Count Down: Chemicals linked to inferior sperm
New data suggest that typical exposures to chemicals called phthalates are associated with reduced fertility in men, but the specific phthalates they finger aren't those that researchers most expected to cause problems.
By Ben Harder - Humans
From the May 27, 1933, issue
CRYSTAL WONDERLAND You can see all these things through a microscope, as scientists and laymen have been seeing them for many years. But the way into this Lilliputia of the waters is being made even easier for you through the amazing artistry in glass of a worker at the American Museum of Natural History in […]
By Science News - Humans
Ring World
Ever wonder what it might be like to live on a doughnut-shaped world? NASA has created a Web page that gives you a sense of what life would be like in a ringlike structure out in space, where there is no gravity except the centrifugal force generated by the structure’s spin. Simulation requires a Java-enabled […]
By Science News - Agriculture
Global Food Trends
Last year, for the third year in four, world per-capita grain production fell. Even more disturbing in a world where people still go hungry, at 294 kilograms, last year’s per capita grain yield was the lowest in more than 30 years. Indeed, the global grain harvest has not met demand for 4 years, causing governments […]
By Janet Raloff - Agriculture
How Olives Might Enhance Potatoes—and Strawberries
Many people savor the flavor of olive oil. Few who have ever encountered the “cake” that remains after the oil is pressed, however, savor the experience. Thats because the pressed olive flesh ends up in unused, smelly heaps. In the European Union alone, olive processors produce some 8 million metric tons of these rank wastes […]
By Janet Raloff