News

  1. Health & Medicine

    A new way to lower cholesterol

    New agents lower cholesterol in a slightly different way than do statins, the most widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs.

    By Damaris Christensen
  2. Earth

    Algae do battle with bioweaponry

    Beneath the frozen surface of Sweden's lakes, algae wage wars over nutrients, and one combatant apparently prevails by releasing chemicals toxic to its adversaries.

    By Ben Harder
  3. Plants

    Shower power: Raindrops shoot seeds out with a splat

    In a seed-dispersal mechanism scientists have never seen before in flowering plants, rain plops into a capsule and makes seeds shoot out the corners.

    By Susan Milius
  4. Humans

    Smallpox redux: World body suggests keeping the virus

    Fear of bioterrorism has led the World Health Organization to postpone its 2002 deadline for destruction of smallpox virus stocks so that scientists can refine current vaccines and improve defenses against the disease.