News
- Paleontology
Wings Aplenty: Dinosaur species had feathered hind limbs
A team of Chinese paleontologists has discovered fossils of a small, feathered dinosaur that they say had four wings.
- Earth
Estrogens classified as carcinogens
The sex hormones known as steroidal estrogens, which are used in hormone-replacement therapies and birth control pills, have joined a government list of known human carcinogens.
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Goodnight moon, hello Mom
A national study finds that about 13 percent of U.S. infants now routinely sleep in a bed with their mothers or other adults, intensifying interest in alleged health benefits and risks of bed sharing for babies.
- Astronomy
Sundancing
Astronomers have solved the mystery of why supergranules—enormous cells of turbulent, charged gas on the sun's surface—appear to move across the sun faster than the sun rotates.
- Physics
Clocking gravity
The first attempt to measure the speed of gravity finds it roughly equal to that of light, as expected, though not everyone agrees that the method used can actually measure gravity's speed.
- Earth
Contraceptive ring could pose risks after its disposal
Discarded vaginal contraceptive rings could interfere with fishes' reproduction by releasing estrogen into streams.
- Earth
Snow alga may be sizable carbon sink
A common microorganism that adds a reddish tinge to some patches of snow may be a significant consumer of planet-warming carbon dioxide.
- Health & Medicine
Do liver stem cells come from bone marrow?
Tests of liver tissue from people who've received liver or blood-marrow transplants show that stem cells in bone marrow can populate the liver as liver cells.
- Materials Science
Conch yields clues for future materials
A conch's tough, calcium carbonate shell resists fractures because a protein surrounds the mineral crystals throughout the shell.
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Prenatal problems linked to schizophrenia
Three large, long-term studies found that periods of oxygen deprivation in the fetus, along with obesity and second-trimester respiratory infections in the mother, are associated with adult schizophrenia.
- Planetary Science
Martian leaks: Hints of present-day water
In some of the coldest regions on Mars, water appears to have recently gushed from just beneath the surface, running down crater walls and steep valleys.
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Human Genome Work Reaches Milestone
Two rival groups jointly announced that each has read essentially all of the 3 billion or so letters that spell out the human genome, the genetic information encoded with the 6 feet of DNA coiled up in every human cell.
