News
- Health & Medicine
Can poliovirus fix spinal cord damage?
Scientists have devised a version of the poliovirus that can deliver genes to motor neurons without harming them, a step toward a gene therapy that reawakens idle neurons in people with spinal cord damage.
- Paleontology
Teeth tell tale of warm-blooded dinosaurs
Evidence locked within the fossil teeth of some dinosaurs may help bolster the view that some of the animals were, at least to some degree, warm-blooded.
- Materials Science
Cathedral has weathered London’s acid rain
A decrease in acid rain seems to be responsible for newly reported reduced deterioration rates of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
- Earth
Girls may face risks from phthalates
The high incidence of premature breast development in Puerto Rican girls has been linked with phthalates, a family of ubiquitous pollutants found in plastics, lubricants, and solvents.
- Astronomy
Telescope unveils a stellar deception
A heavenly masquerade may shed light on the nature of astrophysical jets—the beams of material spewed by a wide variety of celestial objects.
- Archaeology
Ancient Site Holds Cannibalism Clues
An 800-year-old Anasazi site in Colorado yields contested evidence of cannibalism.
- Humans
Ideal Justice: Mathematicians judge the Supreme Court
The current U.S. Supreme Court of nine judges behaves as if it were made up of 4.68 "ideal" justices who make their decisions completely independently, a mathematical analysis suggests.
- Materials Science
Easy Repair: Novel structural model heals with heat
The vertebrate spine has provided inspiration for making new structures that heal when heated.
- Earth
Slow Turnover: Warming trend affects African ecosystem
Over the past 90 years, rising water temperatures in Lake Tanganyika have led to dramatic losses of productivity among the microorganisms that form the base of the lake's food chain.
- Astronomy
Solar Terrain: Revealing the sun’s complex topography
The sharpest images of the sun ever taken, released last week, show our stellar neighbor’s rugged surface in new and surprising detail.
- Health & Medicine
Prevention in a Pill? Baldness drug might avert prostate cancer
The drug finasteride, given to alleviate baldness and prostate problems, might prevent some cases of prostate cancer.
- Earth
Germs Begone: New technology cleans dangerous water
For a penny per liter, people in the developing world should be able to remove most pathogens and toxic pollutants from their home drinking water.
