Feature
- Tech
Oceans of Electricity
The world's first commercial wave-power plant began pumping current into a Scottish island's electric grid last winter, just ahead of a host of competing schemes for converting ocean-wave motion into electricity.
By Peter Weiss - Health & Medicine
Fatty Findings
A recently discovered protein may explain at least part of the molecular mechanisms behind links among obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even some cancers.
- Astronomy
A Dark Force in the Universe
Cosmologists are thinking dark thoughts about what kind of mystery force may be contorting the cosmos, pushing galaxies apart at a faster and faster rate.
By Ron Cowen -
Gray Matters
Once believed to be a supporting cast, the brain cells called astrocytes appear to play important roles in many brain scenarios.
- Health & Medicine
Blood Relatives
After decades of research, several companies are about to release the first line of artificial blood products.
By Linda Wang - Health & Medicine
Breathing on the Edge
Researchers are exploring how both sea-level lowlanders and high-altitude natives cope with low oxygen levels.
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Things That Go Thump
There's a whole world of animal communication by vibration that researchers are now exploring.
By Susan Milius - Humans
Where’s the Book?
Innovative curricula are moving science education away from a reliance on textbooks.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Errant Texts
New studies lambaste popular middle-school science texts for being uninspiring, superficial, and error-ridden.
By Janet Raloff -
Learning in Waves
Learning plays a largely unappreciated role in mental development, according to researchers who examine the variety of tactics children adopt as they attempt to solve problems in mathematics and other areas.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Making Sense of Centenarians
The number of centenarians is expected to double every ten years, making this formerly rare group one of the fastest-growing in the developed world. Researchers are turning to studies of the oldest old to determine how genes, lifestyle, and social factors contribute to longevity.
- Physics
Jiggling the Cosmic Ooze
Spurred by the first tentative sightings after a decades-old search, physicists seeking the universe's mass-giving particle — the Higgs boson — have fired up the world's highest-energy particle collider to join the pursuit.
By Science News