News
- Archaeology
Ancient ash flow brought sudden death
Analysis of the excavation in Herculaneum of the victims of the A.D. 79 eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius indicates that when the initial ash flow swept through the city, it arrived so quickly that some residents didn't even have time to flinch.
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Viruses may play a part in schizophrenia
Scientists have for the first time linked high levels of retroviral activity in the central nervous system to some cases of schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder.
- Health & Medicine
Boosting Boron Could Be Healthful
Largely ignored so far, dietary boron may play important roles in preventing diseases such as arthritis and prostate cancer.
- Chemistry
Leaden news for city neighborhoods
Researchers have identified more than 400 urban sites that may be highly contaminated with lead but had remained unknown to authorities for decades.
- Chemistry
Would you like wheat with that burger?
Researchers have used wheat to make a biodegradable hamburger carton.
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Gene therapy won’t replace Viagra—yet
Scientists are making progress toward inserting genes to cure impotence temporarily.
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Looking for osteoporosis in spit
A dentist has found three compounds in saliva that could be used to gauge bone loss.
- Astronomy
Searching for a lost craft
A recent Department of Defense analysis of images of the Red Planet may have located a lost spacecraft on Mars, but NASA says the images could just be electronic noise.
- Astronomy
Probes find a new plume on Io
Two spacecraft jointly eyeing Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system, have spotted a towering new plume.
- Earth
Lasers show atmosphere differs from models
New observations of the middle and upper atmosphere over Earth's polar regions may require scientists to revamp their mathematical models of temperature and other environmental conditions at high altitudes.
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Tapeworms tell tales of deeper human past
A new analysis of tapeworm history suggests that people have been wrong about where we picked up pests: It was not domestication of cattle and pigs but increased meat eating in Africa.
- Health & Medicine
Immune cells rush to gut in food allergy
In mice, allergic reactions to food coincide with an accumulation of white blood cells called eosinophils in the small intestine.
