News
- Health & Medicine
Spice component versus cancer cells
Curcumin, a compound in the spice turmeric, teams up with an immune-system protein to kill prostate cancer cells in a new laboratory study.
- Earth
Honey may pose hidden toxic risk
Many honeys may contain potentially toxic traces of potent liver-damaging compounds produced naturally by a broad range of flowering plants.
- Animals
No Tickling: Common caterpillars deploy defensive hair
The caterpillars of the European cabbage butterfly have a chemical defense system that scientists haven't documented before.
- Health & Medicine
Feel the Burn: Alcohol sets pain-sensing nerves aflame
Alcohol makes certain pain-generating nerves trigger more easily than normal.
- Health & Medicine
Hidden Damage: Parkinson’s harm to nerves in heart may explain dizziness and fainting
Parkinson's disease patients have damaged nerve endings in the heart, kidneys, and thyroid gland, suggesting the disease harms the autonomic nervous system that regulates involuntary functions of these and other organs and glands.
- Astronomy
Heavenly Taffy: Galaxies in collision
Astronomers have discovered a pair of colliding galaxies connected by a bridge of high-speed electrons and elongated magnetic fields.
- Chemistry
Minimotor: Single molecule does some work
A single molecule has performed mechanical work—pulling and releasing a cantilever tip—when exposed to light.
- Physics
Unexpected Boost: A superconductivity killer’s silver lining
Among superconductors—materials able to conduct electricity without resistance—an effect that normally diminishes current-carrying ability surprisingly turns out to sometimes enhance it.
- Animals
Dogged Dieting: Low-cal canines enjoy longer life
The first completed diet-restriction study in a large animal shows that labrador retrievers fed 25 percent less food than those allowed to eat as much as they desired tend to live longer and suffer fewer age-related diseases.
- Earth
September’s Science: Shutdown of airlines aided contrail studies
The shutdown of commerical aviation within the United States for 3 days after Sept. 11, 2001, provided scientists with a unique opportunity to study the influence of high-flying jet aircraft on Earth's climate.
- Health & Medicine
Could nicotine patch fight depression?
Chronic nicotine administration blocked a symptom of depression in an animal model of the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Fetal stress begets adult hypertension
Intense stress during pregnancy may program the baby's development in ways that foster high blood pressure during adulthood.
