News
- Planetary Science
Rovers in overtime
NASA has extended the missions of the twin Mars rovers by 5 months, through September 2004.
By Ron Cowen - Earth
Prenatal exposures affect sperm later
Boys exposed in the womb to hormone-mimicking pollutants may mature into men who produce impaired sperm.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Toxic color TVs and computer monitors
High concentrations of lead can leach from the X-ray-filtering glass used in picture tubes, suggesting that this glass should be treated as hazardous waste.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Firms vie to treat genetic disease
Successful treatment of Fabry's disease—a rare, fatal genetic condition—prompts a law suit.
By John Travis -
Milked enzyme thwarts muscle disorder
Using an enzyme made in rabbit's milk, scientists have successfully treated a rare genetic disorder.
By John Travis - Planetary Science
New moons for Saturn
Astronomers reported the discovery of four new moons orbiting Saturn.
By Ron Cowen - Planetary Science
Threat to Titan mission deepens
If a communications problem between the Huygens probe and its mother craft is not corrected, as much as two-thirds of the data gathered by the probe during its 2004 descent through Titan's atmosphere could be lost.
By Ron Cowen -
Two aspects of sleep share a master
A molecular connection between the timing of sleep—a part of circadian rhythms—and how long animals slumber each day is demonstrated for the first time.
By Laura Sivitz - Anthropology
‘Y guy’ steps into human-evolution debate
The common ancestor of today's males lived in Africa between 35,000 and 89,000 years ago, according to a contested DNA analysis.
By Bruce Bower - Physics
Signs of mass-giving particle get stronger
The promising search at a collider in Switzerland for the Higgs boson—the crucial and last undetected fundamental particle predicted by the central theory of particle physics—became even more of a cliff-hanger as a new, strong hint of the particle appeared on the eve of the machine's second scheduled demise.
By Peter Weiss - Health & Medicine
Killing immune cells thwarts arthritis
Researchers have successfully treated people with rheumatoid arthritis by temporarily wiping out most of their antibody-producing immune cells.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Prostate enzyme triggers cancer drug
A new drug reverses advanced prostate cancer in mice by enlisting the aid of prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme found in most prostate tumors.
By Nathan Seppa