News
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Grow in the Dark: Bottom-dwelling bacterium survives on geothermal glow
A newly described species of photosynthetic microorganism uses light from hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to power its metabolism, making it the first such organism to use a light source other than the sun.
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Making a Muscle: Engineered fibers grow in the lab and in mice
Scientists have created slivers of muscle that produce their own network of blood vessels.
- Health & Medicine
Attack on Elephantiasis: Antibiotic offers weapon against tropical scourge
An antibiotic called doxycycline can cure people of elephantiasis, a parasitic disease, by killing the bacterium that the parasite needs to survive.
- Animals
Dee for Danger: Chickadees add notes as threat grows
Chickadees change their alarm calls depending on how serious a lurking predator seems.
- Paleontology
Killer Bite: Ancient, tiny mammal probably used venom
Paleontologists have unearthed the remains of an ancient, mouse-size mammal that seems to have had a venomous bite.
- Health & Medicine
Alcohol increases bacterium’s virulence
Drinking alcohol can increase the ability of one type of bacteria to cause disease.
- Health & Medicine
Ready-to-eat spinach bears tough microbes
Bagged spinach may contain a significant number of bacteria, many of which are resistant to several antibiotics.
- Health & Medicine
Raisins may combat cavity-causing bacteria
Raisins may fight the bacteria that cause cavities rather than contribute to tooth decay.
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Biofilm-producing bacteria could stabilize buildings
Bacteria that ooze a sticky matrix could help stabilize the soil beneath structures in earthquake-prone areas.
- Health & Medicine
Heart attack treatment: Better late than never
A new study contradicts the notion that heart attacks run their course in less than a day and suggests that even delayed treatment can preserve endangered heart tissue.
- Health & Medicine
Cocaine abusers get more heart aneurysms
Regular cocaine users are about four times as likely as nonusers to have an aneurysm in a coronary artery.
- Physics
Probing chemical signatures in an earthy way
Scientists have performed nuclear magnetic resonance analysis using Earth's magnetic field.
