News
- Humans
Junk food in schools gets weighty reprieve
Disputed data suggest that non-nutritious eats sold on-site don’t fatten kids.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Mineral quashes deadly bacterial poisons
Manganese supplement might someday help counter a virulent form of E. coli.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Proteins may warn of diabetic kidney disease risk
Patients who have high levels of compounds called TNF receptors in their blood have a heightened risk of developing renal failure, two studies suggest.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Seaweed study fuels bioenergy enthusiasm
Munched by a manipulated microbe, ocean algae readily yield ethanol.
- Health & Medicine
Sleep solidifies bad feelings
A night of slumber reinforces not just traumatic memories but the negative emotions that go with them, one study finds.
- Earth
Carbonation brings diamonds to surface
Chemical reactions deep inside the Earth fuel magma’s gem-laden upward journey.
- Life
Boas take pulse as they snuff it out
Snakes use the waning throb in their prey as a signal to stop squeezing.
By Devin Powell - Psychology
Babies lip-read before talking
Tots acquire the gift of gab by matching adults’ mouth movements to spoken words.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Rising carbon dioxide confuses brain signaling in fish
Nerve cells respond to acidifying waters.
By Janet Raloff - Physics
String theorists squeeze nine dimensions into three
A supercomputer simulation of the Big Bang’s immediate aftermath may explain why space has three directions.
By Devin Powell - Space
Diet of a dying star
Astronomers pinpoint what feeds a type of stellar explosion.
By Nadia Drake - Psychology
Big score for the hot hand
Hot hands exist in professional volleyball and influence game strategy.
By Bruce Bower