News
- Chemistry
The Proper Popper: Corn kernel’s chemistry is key to its ka-pop
The secret to better popcorn popping is the crystalline structure of the kernel's hull.
- Agriculture
Insecticide Inside: Gene-modified rice cuts chemical spraying in China
In the hands of Chinese farmers, varieties of rice genetically modified to fend off insects reduce pesticide use and increase crop yields.
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Losing Sleep: Mutant flies need less shut-eye
The ability to get by on little sleep may have a strong genetic component, according to a new study in fruit flies.
- Health & Medicine
Neuron Savers: Gene therapy slows Alzheimer’s disease
Putting extra copies of the gene for a cellular growth factor into the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease appears to slow the degenerative condition.
- 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.
- Earth
Oysters under siege: Heat and pollution
With global warming, some polluted waters could become graveyards for certain shellfish.
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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.
- Planetary Science
Far-out science
New measurements show that the planetoid Sedna spins more rapidly than earlier observations had suggested.
- 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.
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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.
- 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.
- 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.
