News
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Alzheimer’s marker yields blood test
Studies in mice suggest that it could be possible to screen blood for early, asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Not-So-Clear Alternative: In its air-quality effects, ethanol fuel is similar to gasoline
Switching the nation's vehicles from gasoline to ethanol may not reduce air pollution.
- Health & Medicine
More Than Bit Players: Snippets of RNA might sway pancreatic cancer
Small pieces of genetic material called microRNA might provide a preview of pancreatic cancer's aggressiveness and offer targets for combating the usually deadly disease.
By Nathan Seppa - Planetary Science
Liquid Center: Mercury has a molten core, radar reveals
Mercury is hot stuff: It's got a core that's at least partially molten, a new radar study of the planet's spin reveals.
By Ron Cowen -
Automatic Networking: Brain systems charge up in unconscious monkeys
Even when monkeys are anesthetized, their brains show patterns of electrical activity similar to those exhibited during wakeful activity.
By Bruce Bower - Physics
Quantum Loophole: Some quirks of physics can be good for science
Physicists have found a way to almost double measurement precision when using photons to gauge distances.
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Talk to the Hand: Language might have evolved from gestures
Language might have evolved from hand gestures, say researchers who study communication in chimpanzees.
- Health & Medicine
Less Is More (Bone): Yearly osteoporosis drug reduces fractures
Older women with osteoporosis who received yearly infusions of a drug that prevents bone loss had far fewer fractures than did peers who didn't get the drug.
By Brian Vastag - Planetary Science
A solar forecast
Solar activity, which waxes and wanes in an 11-year cycle, will most likely begin its next round in March 2008 and peak sometime between late 2011 and mid 2012.
By Ron Cowen - Animals
Spider blood fluoresces
Among spiders, fluorescence under ultraviolet light seems to be a widespread trait.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Lake Superior is warming faster than its local climate
In recent decades, the waters of Lake Superior have warmed significantly faster than have air temperatures at nearby sites onshore, a trend caused in part by a long-term decrease in the lake's winter ice cover.
By Sid Perkins - Anthropology
Kin play limited role in chimp cooperation
Male chimps collaborate in a variety of ways and, like people, often find partners outside of their immediate families for cooperative ventures.
By Bruce Bower