All Stories
- Health & Medicine
Cancer drug’s effectiveness overinflated in animal studies
Claims about the cancer drug sunitinib are overblown because of poorly designed studies and negative results that were never published, a new analysis suggests.
- Neuroscience
That familiar feeling comes from deep in the brain
Knowing what’s new and what we’ve seen before is at the base of memory. A new study shows that with a flash of light, scientists can change the firing of brain cells, and make the old new again.
- Health & Medicine
Elephants’ cancer-protection secret may be in the genes
An extra dose of cancer-fighting genes may be the secret to elephants’ long life spans.
By Meghan Rosen - Environment
Air pollutants enter body through skin
Although scientists have largely viewed skin as an unimportant portal to blood for toxic air pollutants, new human data show that skin can surpass lungs as a route of entry.
By Janet Raloff - Genetics
Gene editing makes pigs safer for human transplants
CRISPR/Cas9 disables multiple viruses at one time
- Earth
Surface spills near fracking sites implicated in water contamination
Chemical spills from fracking operations are the likely source of chemicals found in drinking water wells in northeastern Pennsylvania.
- Animals
Ecotourism could bring new dangers to animals
The presence of kindly tourists could make animals more vulnerable to predation and poaching, a new study warns.
- Health & Medicine
Why kids look funny when they run
Kids’ short legs give them little time to push high off the ground, a constraint that leads to the jerky toddler trot.
- Quantum Physics
Future quantum computing could exploit old technology
Silicon transistors have been modified and patched together to form logic gates that could perform calculations in future quantum computers.
By Andrew Grant - Oceans
Oxygen in Black Sea has declined by more than a third since 1955
The Black Sea’s oxygen-rich surface layer shrank by more than a third from 1955 through 2013, compressing marine habitats and bringing toxic hydrogen sulfide closer to the surface.
- Animals
Jumping conchs triumph at overheated athletics
“Simple” circulatory system outdoes fancier ones in delivering oxygen for jumping conchs in simulated climate change conditions.
By Susan Milius - Genetics
Chemical tags on DNA appear to differ between gay and straight men
DNA marks distinguished homosexual men from heterosexual men with in a small twin study.