News

Health & Medicine

Saffron takes on cancer

The yellow spice inhibits liver cancer growth, tests in rats show.

Astronomy

Star goes boom, telescopes zoom

Astronomers have spotted a supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy, the nearest such stellar explosion in decades.

Chemistry

Pooping pandas may make better biofuels

Gut microbes break down bamboo efficiently, inspiring new approaches to process raw plant materials for fuel.

Tech

Mining electronic records yields connections between diseases

Mining patient records, combined with molecular research, may reveal new links among medical conditions.

Life

Belly bacteria boss the brain

One type of gut microbe sends antianxiety messages through the vagus nerve, changing the behavior of mice.

Psychology

Men’s spatial superiority takes cultural cues

Some societies may nurture comparable spatial skills in males and females.

Humans

Willpower endures

A person's ability to resist temptation stays constant throughout life, study suggests.

Humans

Recession-sensitive parenting

Economic downturn led to temporarily more severe parenting tactics among genetically predisposed mothers.

Physics

Solar cells could get quantum boost

A quantum trick to merge atomic energy levels might boost the power of semiconductor lasers and improve the efficiency of solar panels.

Life

Genes may explain who gets sick from flu

People who stay well even after being exposed to the flu have a strong immune reaction to the virus, but in exactly the opposite way as those who get sick.

Humans

Beneficial liaisons

DNA gift from our extinct cousins not only lives on in people today, but helps people today live on.

Space

Asteroid sample nails meteorite source

Dust returned from space by the Hayabusa mission shows where most space rocks landing on Earth originate.