All Stories
- Humans
Official Concern: U.N. weighs in on acrylamide toxicity
A United Nations panel concluded that, in fried, grilled, and baked foods, the formation of acrylamide, a carcinogen and nerve poison in rodents, constitutes "a serious problem."
By Janet Raloff - Paleontology
Into the Gap: Fossil find stands on its own four legs
A fossil originally misidentified as an ancient fish turns out to be the nearly intact remains of a four-limbed creature that lived during an extended period noted for its lack of fossils of land animals.
By Sid Perkins -
The Eyes Have It: Newborns prefer faces with a direct gaze
Only a few days after birth, babies already home in on faces that fix them with a direct gaze and devote less attention to faces with eyes that look to one side.
By Bruce Bower -
19019
From my observations of men and women, I think men crave meat more than women do, whereas women crave pastries more than men do. If the team would offer chocolate éclairs, the PET scans might show more prefrontal cortex activity in women’s brains, less in men’s. Since men’s brains showed more, I suspect the liquid […]
By Science News - Health & Medicine
His-and-Her Hunger Pangs: Gender affects the brain’s response to food
Men's and women's brains react differently to hunger, as well as to satiation.
By Kristin Cobb - Physics
Heightened Resistance: Sharper shaft points to smaller bits
Scientists have exploited a method for detecting the orientations of magnetic fields to achieve a remarkable leap in detector sensitivity.
By Peter Weiss - Earth
Teenage Holdup: Pollution may delay puberty
A new study of adolescents suggests that widespread environmental pollutants such as PCBs and dioxins may delay sexual development.
- Materials Science
X Rays to Go: Carbon nanotubes could shrink machines
A new type of X-ray machine operates at room temperature by producing X-ray-generating electrons with carbon nanotubes instead of traditional heated metal filaments.
- Health & Medicine
Sex, smell and appetite
A study of sexual dysfunction in mutated mice may help explain the connection between smell and appetite.
- Health & Medicine
Hunger hormone gone awry?
People with an inherited form of obesity caused by constant hunger pangs have higher-than-normal blood concentrations of ghrelin, a hormone believed to boost appetite.
- Physics
Twice-charmed particles spotted?
Exotic cousins of protons and neutrons known as doubly-charmed baryons may have made their laboratory debut.
By Peter Weiss - Agriculture
Killer bees boost coffee yields
Even self-pollinating coffee plants benefit substantially from visits by insect pollinators.
By Janet Raloff