News
- Earth
Top of Everest is an ozone overdose
Wafts from lower atmosphere, polluted regions bathe the peak in amounts that exceed EPA limits.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Epigenetics reveals unexpected, and some identical, results
One study finds tissue-specific methylation signatures in the genome; another a similarity between identical twins in DNA’s chemical tagging.
- Health & Medicine
Neural paths for borderline personality disorder
A new brain-imaging study indicates that unusual neural activity linked to emotion, attention and conflict-resolution systems underlies a common psychiatric condition known as borderline personality disorder.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Gamers crave control and competence, not carnage
Study turns belief commonly held by video game industry, gamers, on its head.
- Earth
Livestock manure stinks for infant health
Megafarm production associated with infant illness and death rates.
- Life
For worms, one gene can change survival behavior
Natural differences in a single gene cause worms to either eat or avoid harmful bacteria.
- Life
Capuchin monkeys choose the right tool for the nut
New field experiments indicate that wild capuchin monkeys choose the most effective stones for cracking nuts, suggesting deep evolutionary roots for the use of stone tools.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Using checklist reduces surgery complications
Measure twice, cut once: Going over a checklist of procedures in the operating room before and after surgery lowers the complication rate and, in developing countries, saves lives, a study in eight hospitals shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Earth
World’s windiest ocean locale
News briefs from the American Meteorological Society annual meeting being held January 11–15 in Phoenix.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Omega-3 fatty acid is early boost for female preemies
DHA given to newborns in the first weeks following birth improves brain development in girls, but not boys.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Going nano to see viruses 3-D
Nanoscale MRI-like machine images individual virus shapes; first step to seeing proteins in 3-D
- Life
Dinosaur fossil reveals creature of a different feather
Paleontologists have discovered a fossil partially covered with broad, unbranched filaments — a type of structure previously theorized to exist on primitive feathered dinosaurs but not found until now.
By Sid Perkins