News
- Health & Medicine
Zinc boosts kids’ learning
Zinc fortification improved mental skills in children with normal healthy diets, suggesting that the recommended intake for this mineral may need to be raised.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Oysters under siege: Heat and pollution
With global warming, some polluted waters could become graveyards for certain shellfish.
By Janet Raloff -
When opposites don’t attract
The quirks of two kinds of European corn borers are giving researchers a way to study how a single species might split in two.
By Susan Milius - Planetary Science
Far-out science
New measurements show that the planetoid Sedna spins more rapidly than earlier observations had suggested.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
When the stomach gets low on acid
A study in mice shows that a shortage of stomach acid can lead to cancer, apparently as a result of bacterial overgrowth and inflammation.
By Nathan Seppa -
Many cyanobacteria make a neurotoxin
A brain-damaging toxin, once believed to come only from a group of tropical plants and their live-in microbes, turns out to be much more widespread.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Licorice ingredient ferrets out herpes
A compound in licorice homes in on lab-grown cells infected with a herpes virus and induces them to self-destruct.
By Nathan Seppa - Paleontology
Early mammal had newfangled fangs
A tiny mammal that lived in Colorado about 150 million years ago had hollow teeth that lacked enamel, a characteristic that didn't reappear in mammals for another 100 million years.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Coming Storms: Method predicts intensity of U.S. hurricane seasons
A new computer model that analyzes summer-wind patterns can help predict whether the United States will suffer a damaging hurricane season.
By Sid Perkins -
Mood Brighteners: Light therapy gets nod as depression buster
Brief periods of daily exposure to bright light are an effective treatment option for depression.
By Bruce Bower - Tech
Double bubble comes off in a pinch
By nestling droplets inside larger droplets, scientists have created a new strategy for encapsulating food additives and fragrances.
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Frozen in Time: Gas puts mice metabolically on ice
Researchers have induced a hibernation-like state in mice by exposing them to low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide.