News
- Physics
Crueltyfree: Counting photons without killing them
A delicate quantum measurement counts photons without destroying them.
- Astronomy
Separation Anxiety: Cosmic collision may shed light on dark matter
The debris from an ancient collision of galaxy clusters seems to show cosmic dark matter behaving in a puzzling way.
By Ron Cowen -
Groomed for Trouble: Mice yield obsessive-compulsive insights
Mice lacking a gene that makes a certain brain protein display behaviors much like those of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, a poorly understood psychiatric ailment.
By Bruce Bower - Animals
High Volume, Low Fidelity: Birds are less faithful as sounds blare
In noisy surroundings, normally faithful female zebra finches flirt with unfamiliar males.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Infectious Obesity: Adenovirus fattens stem cells
Some cases of obesity may result from infection by a virus that can transform adult stem cells into fat-storing cells.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
If You Can Stomach It: Obesity surgery extends life span
Drastic weight loss achieved through gastric bypass and other stomach surgeries improves long-term survival for very obese people.
By Nathan Seppa - Physics
Frizzed molecular carpets
Measurements of the speed with which heat travels along single hydrocarbon molecules could aid in the design of molecular electronics.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine targets ovarian-cancer cells
A vaccine for ovarian cancer enables some women who've undergone chemotherapy to stay in remission.
By Nathan Seppa - Archaeology
Map yields new view of ancient city
A new map shows that Angkor, the world's largest preindustrial city, covered more than 1,000 square kilometers of what is now Cambodia and possessed an elaborate canal system.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Lithium might help bone healing
In mice, treatment with lithium assists in the production of a bone-repair protein and improves the healing of fractures.
By Nathan Seppa - Earth
Cat disease associated with flame retardants
An epidemic of hyperthyroidism in house cats may be the result of environmental exposure to certain flame retardants.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature
Throwing tiny particles into the atmosphere to counteract global warming could cause extended droughts and other weather disruptions.
By Sid Perkins