News
- Tech
Pile-o’-polymers breaks up on command
Stacks of polymers designed to break apart in acid solution or at a certain voltage may prove useful for releasing drugs, pesticides, or other compounds where and when needed.
- Tech
Pores of glass skin shrink from light
Ultraviolet light can fine-tune the properties of intricately structured, porous films of glass that, among other uses, may make possible the long-sought direct extraction of oxygen and nitrogen gases from air.
- Chemistry
Detailed yellow-bud research blossoms
In identifying the chemical responsible for the color of many yellow flowers, scientists have moved one step closer to engineering sunny-colored designer buds.
- Health & Medicine
Vitamin E targets dangerous inflammation
Megadoses of vitamin E may reduce the risk of heart disease in people with diabetes and other conditions that produce chronic, low-grade inflammation.
- Health & Medicine
New test may spot colon cancer early
An experimental test for colon cancer may detect the disease at a treatable stage more accurately than current, noninvasive screening techniques.
- Health & Medicine
Malaria vaccine waylays parasite in liver
A new malaria vaccine tested in chimpanzees spurs an immune response against the parasite as it passes through the liver, halting it in most cases before it can get into the bloodstream and cause symptoms of the disease.
- Humans
Science gets a start on the space station
Although the space station's main laboratories have yet to be launched, scientists are already using nooks and crannies in the existing structure to conduct experiments in biotechnology and physics.
-
Lamprey cyborg sees the light and responds
Researchers have paired the brain of a sea lamprey with a small robot that can detect and move around in response to light.
- Health & Medicine
Lithium increases gray matter in the brain
Used for decades to treat manic depression, lithium may stimulate the production of new brain cells, thus raising hope that it can treat strokes, Alzheimer's disease, and other conditions that kill brain cells.
-
Psst. This fly’s ears can rival a cat’s
The unusual eardrums of a tiny parasitic fly turn out to rival cats', owls', and people's abilities to pinpoint the origin of a sound.
- Archaeology
Massive Fishery Resurfaces in Amazon
Native groups in an Amazonian region of Bolivia built a large-scale fishery and other earthworks at least 300 years ago, before the Spanish conquest.
- Paleontology
Fossil Fingerprints: Rare earths tie bones to burial ground
The soil in which fossilization occurs leaves a chemical imprint on the bones, suggesting that scientists can use this soil signature to identify more precisely a fossil's original home.
