News
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Mental ills attract alternative therapies
A substantial minority of people suffering from mental ailments seek out alternative treatments, such as herbal medicines and nutritional regimens, usually without telling their physicians.
- Tech
Technique boosts data rate in light pipes
Turning a liability into an asset, a new technique for passing information through optical fibers increases the data flow by exploiting the very trait that has long held that flow back.
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Possible Alzheimer’s vaccine seems safe
A vaccine intended to slow or prevent the devastation of Alzheimer's disease appears promising, according to preliminary tests in people.
- Paleontology
Was it sudden death for the Permian period?
The massive extinctions that came at the end of the Permian period could have occurred within a mere 8,000 years, which suggests a catastrophic cause for the die-offs.
- Ecosystems
Lab ecosystems show signs of evolving
An ambitious test of group selection considers whether natural selection can act on whole ecosystems as evolutionary units.
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Why did the turtle cross the road?
A survey of painted turtles that perished while trying to cross a highway suggests that the freshwater species need more dry land than expected.
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Predators shape river world top-down
Hunting and no-hunting zones allow a rare test of the much-debated proposal that big carnivores shape their ecosystems from the top down.
- Health & Medicine
Hormone treats autoimmune disease
A medication combining the drug prasterone and hormone dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, stabilizes or improves symptoms of lupus.
- Health & Medicine
Gene causes body-fat disorder
A gene linked to a form of muscular dystrophy also causes a disease that deposits fat unevenly after puberty.
- Health & Medicine
Stress and sleepless nights
Insomnia is associated with increases in stress hormones, boosts that persist all day and night.
- Physics
Gecko toes tap intermolecular bonds
For scurrying upside down on smooth ceilings and other gravity-defying feats, lizards known as geckos may exploit intermolecular forces between the surface and billions of tiny stalks under their toes.
- Physics
New equation fits nitrogen to a T
An elaborate, new equation that yields more accurate values for nitrogen's properties might have a multimillion-dollar impact in the cryogenic fluids industry.
