News

  1. Health & Medicine

    Disturbed sleep tied to Parkinson’s risk

    People who have a disorder that causes them to thrash and kick during sleep face a high risk of developing Parkinson’s disease or other neurodegenerative disorders.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Agriculture

    Candy cane strategy sweetens life for goldenrods

    Goldenrods temporarily duck their heads during pest season

    By Susan Milius
  3. Health & Medicine

    New embryonic stem cells ratted out

    Overcoming obstacles, scientists have created stable embryonic stem cells from rats. Researchers hope their method will prove useful as a general recipe for isolating stem cells from other mammals.

    By Laura Sanders
  4. Health & Medicine

    Hot clock key to fruit fly’s global spread

    A temperature-sensitive switch in a fruit fly’s biological clock means some species can survive in a wide range of climates while others are stuck on the equator.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  5. Space

    Lopsided universe demands different explanation

    Cosmologists analyzing an apparent asymmetry in the pattern of radiation reveal evidence for a new type of field in the early universe.

    By Ron Cowen
  6. Health & Medicine

    Sense for morphine has gender gap

    Female rats have fewer brain receptors that sense morphine, making the drug less effective. The work points to the need for more research on why medicine potency can vary among people.

    By Laura Sanders
  7. Health & Medicine

    Experimental drug fends off emphysema in mice

    Mice exposed to cigarette smoke and then ed the drug and fended of emphysema, suggesting the edible drug might help ex-smokers.

    By Nathan Seppa
  8. Life

    Buzzing bees protect plant leaves

    Honeybee air traffic can interrupt caterpillars' relentless munching.

    By Susan Milius
  9. Earth

    Warmer oceans would fuel more thunderstorms

    Satellite data reveal more thunderheads forming as tropical sea-surface temperatures rise.

    By Sid Perkins
  10. Humans

    Taking trophy heads close to home

    Members of the prehistoric Nasca culture in southern Peru took trophy heads from their own people rather than from foreigners captured in wars or raids, a new biochemical analysis suggests.

    By Bruce Bower
  11. Earth

    Corals, turfgrass and sediments offer stories of climate past and future

    Science News reports from San Francisco at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union

    By Sid Perkins
  12. Health & Medicine

    For preemies, less is more

    Multiple courses of steroid treatment for mom could harm premature babies.

    By Laura Sanders