News

  1. Health & Medicine

    Keeping the beat

    Muscle cells taken from embryonic rats and put into an adult rat's heart can transmit the electric signals that govern the heartbeat.

    By Damaris Christensen
  2. Tech

    Robotic heart surgery

    By using robotic rather than conventional open-heart techniques, doctors can perform heart surgery with smaller incisions, giving patients less pain and speeding recovery.

    By Damaris Christensen
  3. Health & Medicine

    Enzyme Shortage May Lead to Lupus

    Without the enzyme DNase I, mice are vulnerable to symptoms of lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease.

    By Nathan Seppa
  4. Health & Medicine

    Cycling and surgery have similar effect

    Among people with chest pain because of clogged heart arteries, regular exercise on a stationary bike reduced symptoms better than surgery did.

    By Damaris Christensen
  5. Health & Medicine

    A hot new therapy?

    Spending time in a sauna improves heart function in people with chronic heart failure.

    By Damaris Christensen
  6. Planetary Science

    Seeing Saturn

    After 5 years of interplanetary travel, the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft has taken its first picture of the ringed planet.

    By Ron Cowen
  7. Health & Medicine

    Protein may signal heart problems

    A protein already linked to inflammation is also a strong predictor of heart problems.

    By Nathan Seppa
  8. Health & Medicine

    Natural fluoride isn’t quite enough

    In the absence of a public water-fluoridation program in eastern Germany, natural background concentrations of fluoride in drinking water affect children’s dental health.

    By Ben Harder
  9. Earth

    Child-care sites, health threats

    Federal agencies have completed the first national study of lead, pesticides, and allergens in U.S. child-care facilities.

    By Ben Harder
  10. Animals

    Hawkmoths can still see colors at night

    For the first time, scientists have found detailed evidence than an animal—a hawkmoth—can see color by starlight.

    By Susan Milius
  11. Tech

    Resistancefree wire takes long jump

    A wire-making company has demonstrated a process that yields potentially inexpensive, high-current superconducting wires about 10 times longer than previous prototypes.

    By Peter Weiss
  12. Health & Medicine

    Study exonerates childhood vaccine

    A nationwide study in Denmark provides strong evidence that a childhood vaccine once blamed for some cases of autism plays no role in the development of that neurological disorder.

    By Ben Harder