News
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Do eggs go cuckoo under UV light?
People don't see ultraviolet light but birds do, so studies of egg mimickry may need to stop relying so much on human vision.
By Susan Milius -
Gender-bending flowers spice forests
In a newly discovered trick for avoiding self-pollination, ginger flowers take turns at gender roles, switching from female to male or vice versa in unison around lunchtime.
By Susan Milius - Physics
Surface reaction recorded in real time
Ultrafast laser pulses may have for the first time revealed the incredibly rapid, step-by-step progress of a complete chemical reaction on a surface, at the actual speed at which it took place.
By Peter Weiss - Physics
Cold sliver may sense electron quiver
By detecting vibrations of less than an atom's width of a tiny cantilever, physicists have made the most sensitive measurement of force ever by mechanical means.
By Peter Weiss - Earth
Oops! Tougher arsenic rule retracted
The new EPA administrator has delayed by 60 days the implementation of a final rule issued by the Clinton administration lowering the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
How polluted we are
Most people carry traces of toxic pollutiants, including metals, pesticides, and phthalates.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Gene linked to aggressive prostate cancer
A gene that is more active in prostate cancer tumors from African-American men than in tumors from white men may help explain why prostate cancer is both more common and more aggressive in African Americans.
- Health & Medicine
Synthetic enzyme wards off side effects
A synthetic enzyme that lowers blood pressure and causes blood vessels to constrict shows promise for treating skin and kidney cancers that have spread throughout the body.
- Health & Medicine
Gene variant linked to early puberty
A highly active version of a gene for faster testosterone metabolism is also associated with early breast development—by the age of 9.5 years—in girls.
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Touching legs turns shy locusts gregarious
Researchers have discovered that sensing repeated touch on the hind leg triggers a shy, green locust to flip into swarming mode.
By Susan Milius - Physics
Moon may radio cosmic rays’ biggest hits
Efforts to use the moon to detect the highest-energy cosmic rays get a boost from an experiment showing that gamma rays zipping through a giant sandbox cause the kind of microwave bursts moon-watchers are hoping to see.
By Peter Weiss - Earth
Microbes put ancient carbon on the menu
Scientists have found microorganisms within Kentucky shale that are eating the ancient carbon locked within the rock, a previously unrecognized dietary habit that could have a prevalent role in the weathering and erosion of similar sedimentary rock at many other locations.
By Sid Perkins