News
- Health & Medicine
Male circumcision could avert millions of HIV infections
Mass circumcision of boys and men in sub-Saharan Africa could avert 2.7 million new cases of HIV infection over the next decade.
By Nathan Seppa - Astronomy
Recurrent Eruption: Explosive stellar saga
Six thermonuclear explosions have ripped off the outer layers of a dense, nearby star in the past 108 years.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Big Headache: Auras may add risk to migraines
Women who experience migraines that are preceded by sensory irregularities face a heightened risk of heart attack and stroke.
By Nathan Seppa - Earth
Sandy clues to ancient climate
The orientation of dunes in north-central Nebraska indicates that the climate there a millennium ago was much different than it is today.
By Sid Perkins -
From Mind to Matter: Data analysis challenges psychokinesis
Numerous experiments in which volunteers mentally attempt to influence the output of computers that generate random sequences of 1s and 0s have failed to show that individuals can use their minds to manipulate the physical world.
By Bruce Bower -
Deadly Disorder: Imagined-ugliness illness yields high suicide rate
The suicide rate among people with a psychiatric disorder that causes them to perceive themselves as ugly is higher than that among people with major depression.
By Eric Jaffe -
Gender Divide: Gene expression differs in males and females
The two sexes vary in the amounts of proteins produced by thousands of genes.
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Bee Concerned: Big study—Selective pollinators are declining
A new study provides evidence of a decline among some of Europe's insect pollinators and the wild plants that need them.
By Susan Milius - Physics
Terrific Timekeeper: Optical atomic clock beats world standard
An innovative atomic clock is more precise than the breed of clocks that's been the best for 50 years.
By Peter Weiss - Earth
Global warming heats up nursery of hurricanes
Sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean reached record highs last year.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Alaskan coral beds get new protection
To protect cold-water corals, huge areas of Alaskan waters will be off limits to trawls and other fishing gear that typically scrape the seafloor.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Ingredient might prevent sexually transmitted disease
A seaweed derivative that's commonly added to many consumer products as a thickening agent can inhibit the virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts.