News
- Earth
Dirty Story: Farming has increased flow of soil onto reef
Agricultural practices that early European settlers brought to eastern Australia sped the pace at which soil washes out to sea and settles over the Great Barrier Reef.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Revelations: Satellite homes in on the infant universe
A new portrait of the infant universe pins down the age of the universe—13.7 billion years—to an unprecedented accuracy of 1 percent, provides new evidence that the universe began with a brief but humongous growth spurt, and reveals that it already contained a plethora of stars when it was just 200 million years old.
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Gene found key to brain chemical
The mammalian brain makes the neurotransmitter serotonin in an unexpected way.
- Health & Medicine
Worms offer the skinny on fat genes
The identification of worm genes that regulate fat storage may provide insight into human obesity.
- Astronomy
Starry eruption on a grand scale
Monitoring the bloated star Rho Cassiopeiae, astronomers report they witnessed an explosion that blasted more material into space than any other stellar explosion ever observed.
- Physics
Streams plus nanostrands equals electricity
A dense bundle of carbon nanotubes develops a voltage difference along its length when immersed in a slow-flowing liquid.
- Chemistry
Synthetic molecule may treat anemia
Researchers have created a new form of the protein erythropoietin (EPO) using synthetic chemistry techniques.
- Earth
9/11 ash, and more, found in river muck
Sediment cores pulled from the Hudson River near the World Trade Center site contain a thin layer of metal-rich ash and pulverized debris.
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Catch of the day for cancer researchers
Scientists are using glowing tumor cells inside zebrafish to study how cancer spreads.
- Health & Medicine
Mind Numbing: Anesthesia in baby rats stunts brain development
General anesthetic drugs commonly used in pediatric surgery, when given to baby rats, trigger brain cells to commit a cellular form of suicide that leads to lasting memory and learning deficits.
- Humans
Budget Boosts and Busts: R&D for Defense, NASA garner funding rise
The President's $2.23 trillion federal budget proposal contains nearly $123 billion to fund federal research and development, an increase of about $8 billion over last year’s proposal.
- Agriculture
Bt Cotton: Yields up in India; pests low in Arizona
Two cotton-growing centers that could hardly differ more—small farms in India and industrial fields in Arizona—provide case studies that show the bright side of a widespread genetically engineered crop.
