News
- Earth
Landfills Make Mercury More Toxic
Landfill disposal of mercury-containing products can chemically transform the pollutant not only to make it more potent but also to foster its release into air.
By Janet Raloff -
Textbooks brace for nuclear challenge
New data threaten to shake up 30 years of scientific dogma regarding how a cell carries out one of its most basic tasks: the translation of the genetic code into proteins.
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Killer yeast win epic battle of toxins
Researchers have discovered the molecular mechanism that keeps a yeast cell programed by a virus to spew a toxin that kills neighboring yeast cells from killing itself.
- Earth
A foamy threat to ozone
Shredding the foam insulation in discarded refrigerators can release significant quantities of chlorofluorocarbons, which pose a threat to Earth's protective ozone layer.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Blood points to pollution’s heart risks
As airborne concentrations of fine dust particles climb, so do three blood factors that increase an individual's heart attack risk.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Vitamin E benefits cattle, too
Vitamin E aids immune system function and prevents growth declines in cattle, offering an alternative to potentially dangerous use of low-dose antibiotics.
- Health & Medicine
Insight into preemies’ blindness
Lack of a growth factor called IGF-1 has been implicated as a trigger for a disease that can cause vision problems, including blindness, in premature babies.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s damage might start off early
Copper and free radicals may initiate the brain damage of Alzheimer's disease long before its hallmark protein plaques have formed.
- Health & Medicine
Seemingly safer steroid mimics
A glucocorticoid mimic may offer the autoinflammatory effects of steroids with fewer side effects.
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- Health & Medicine
Saving fertility for cancer survivors?
A compound called sphingosine-1-phosphate preserves fertility in female mice given radiation treatment.
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Women show the ways to maturity
A 39-year study finds three different patterns of healthy psychological development among women, each of which emphasizes particular goals and trade-offs.
By Bruce Bower