News
- Agriculture
Wheat gone wild
Researchers have identified a gene responsible for boosting the protein, iron, and zinc content of some varieties of wild wheat by 10 to 15 percent.
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Leggy lizards adapt fast
In response to a new predator, lizards on several Caribbean islands underwent selection first for long legs and then for short legs.
- Planetary Science
So long, Surveyor
After 8 years of relaying pictures, topographic maps, magnetic field data, and compositional information from above the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft appears to have called it quits.
- Health & Medicine
Pain type matters to brain
Chronic back pain affects different parts of the brain than acute back pain does, magnetic resonance images reveal.
- Health & Medicine
Indian men are prone to insulin resistance
Men from India are more likely than those in other large ethnic groups to have a condition that predisposes them to adult-onset diabetes.
- Anthropology
Stone Age Role Revolution: Modern humans may have divided labor to conquer
A new analysis of Stone Age sites indicates that a division of labor first emerged in modern-human groups living in the African tropics around 40,000 years ago, providing our ancestors with a social advantage over Neandertals.
- Tech
Crusty Old Computer: New imaging techniques reveal construction of ancient marvel
Scientists have figured out the arrangement and functions of nearly all the parts of a mysterious astronomical computer that was recovered from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck.
- Earth
Lead in the Water: Mapping gets a handle on disinfectant’s danger
Researchers are investigating the link between lead-contaminated water and chloramine, a chemical disinfectant that is increasingly used in municipal water supplies.
- Health & Medicine
A Toast to Healthy Hearts: Wine compounds benefit blood vessels
Researchers have identified a class of compounds in red wine that might be responsible for much of the beverage's cardiovascular benefit.
- Planetary Science
Howdy, Neighbors: Long-term study finds a batch of red dwarfs
Astronomers have found 20 previously unknown star systems that lie within 33 light-years of Earth.
- Animals
New Butterfly: High-alpine species from low-life parents
Little bluish butterflies high in the Sierra Nevada could be one of the few animal species to have arisen from crossbreeding of two other species.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer Link: Gene regulates progesterone effect on breast cells
The BRCA1 protein regulates the effect of pro-growth progesterone, which could explain why having a mutated BRCA1 gene predisposes a woman to breast cancer.
