News
- Chemistry
Molecular surgery traps hydrogen inside carbon cage
In a feat of precision chemistry, scientists have locked a pair of hydrogen atoms inside a soccer ball–shaped carbon molecule known as a buckyball.
- Health & Medicine
Southern blacks face excess risk of stroke
Blacks living in southern U.S. states have a greater risk of dying of stroke than do blacks living in northern states.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Stroke patients show dearth of vitamin D
People recovering from a stroke have less vitamin D in their systems than do healthy peers, which could explain why stroke patients often have low bone density and risk breaking bones.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
High salt intake hikes stroke risk
People who consume a lot of salt are nearly twice as likely to have a stroke as are people who consume less salt, even when their blood pressures are equivalent.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Vampire spit gives strokes a licking
A drug derived from a component of vampire bat saliva can clear blood clots in the brains of people who have had strokes.
By Nathan Seppa -
Lefties, righties take neural sides in perceiving parts
A brain-imaging study indicates that right-handers and left-handers use different, corresponding neural regions to perceive parts of an object while ignoring the larger entity.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
High costs of CT screening
Whole-body computed tomography scans for asymptomatic disease do not appear cost-effective at this time.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Subway air does extra damage
Airborne particles in subterranean transit stations may be more damaging to human cells than are particles from street-level air.
By Ben Harder - Planetary Science
Meteorite on Mars
One of the twin rovers on Mars has discovered the first meteorite ever found on a planet other than Earth.
By Ron Cowen - Humans
Lean Times: Proposed budget keeps science spending slim
After accounting for inflation, President Bush's proposed research-and-development budget for fiscal year 2006 is down 1.4 percent from FY 2005, a figure that has many science agencies tightening their belts.
- Animals
Oops! Grab That Trunk: High-diving ants swing back toward their tree
Certain tree-dwelling ants can direct their descent well enough to veer toward tree trunks and climb back home.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Natural or Synthetic? Test reveals origin of chemicals in blubber
Natural compounds that are chemically akin to certain industrial chemicals wend their way up marine food chains and accumulate in whale blubber.
By Ben Harder