All Stories
- Ecosystems
Tougher Weeds? Borrowed gene helps wild sunflower
Feeding concerns about developing superweeds, a test of sunflowers shows for the first time that a biologically engineered gene moving from a crop can give an advantage to wild relatives under naturalistic conditions.
- Health & Medicine
Toxin Trumped: New malaria vaccine protects mice
An experimental vaccine neutralizes a toxic molecule made by malaria-causing parasites.
- Health & Medicine
Fruit: Towards Virtual Taste Tests
When it comes to fresh fruit, looks can be deceiving. The prettiest apples may be tasteless or their texture mealy. Intact, ruby-hued skin may hide a large, mushy bruise. As a result, each purchase becomes somewhat of a gamble. Federal engineers with the Agricultural Research Service hope to up a buyer’s odds with a system […]
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19103
Your article on microbial-efflux-pump research immediately caused me to relate the phenomenon to immune system response. Have the researchers considered the possibility of such a response triggering the formation of efflux pumps, either specific to the triggering “foreign” body or to a group of bodies similar to the cow pox-small pox link? Robert E. HubbardWinter […]
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Keeping Bugs from Pumping Drugs
Researchers hope that attacking the machinery some microbes use to pump antimicrobial agents out of their cells may help deal with the increasing problem of drug resistance.
- Physics
Scaling energy barriers to save data
Researchers demonstrate a promising new way to make semiconductor-based memory that doesn't erase when the power goes off.
- Physics
Spectral atom rings in
Electron waves can generate a phantom atom when a real atom is placed at the right spot inside an elliptical quantum corral, or loop of atoms, arranged on a surface.
- Humans
From the August 13, 1932, issue
ONLY HALF OF LIGHTNING FLASH IS SEEN BY OBSERVERS Not many years ago, a thunderstorm often meant that the supply of electricity would be interrupted. But now, lightning does not cause power line failures nearly as frequently as it used to; it has been tamed by engineers. Laboratory artificial power lines that duplicate actual conditions […]
- Health & Medicine
One more reason to worry
A single dose of the AIDS drug nevirapine, given to mothers to help prevent them from infecting their children during birth, may be enough to prod the virus to develop drug resistance.
- Health & Medicine
HIV may date back to the 1930s
Genetic analysis of the AIDS virus suggests it first infected humans in the first third of the 20th century.
- Health & Medicine
AIDS drugs may cause bone loss
Using X rays to measure bone density in HIV-infected men, researchers find a possible link between bone loss and long-term use of protease inhibitors.
- Math
Prepping for Calculus
The “Calculus Page” Web site provides links to a variety of resources for calculus students and teachers, from problem sets with step-by-step solutions to tips on preparing for exams. Linked sites offer online tutorials and courses, sample exams, animated examples, mathematical software, and information on calculus competitions and the history of calculus. Go to: http://www.calculus.org/
