News
- 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.
- 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.
-
Mammoths: Blondes and brunettes?
The wool of woolly mammoths may have come in at least two shades.
- Plants
Orchid bends around to insert pollen
An orchid species in China has set a new record for acrobatics in self-pollination, twisting its male organs around and inserting them into the cavity where the female organ lies.
-
Why people punish
When punishing criminals, people tend to seek retribution, not deterrence.
- Animals
Stilts for ants make case for pedometer
Changing the leg length of desert ants upsets their ability to judge distance, providing the first evidence in any animal of a built-in odometer based on stride.
- Planetary Science
Some deadly monikers
Two recently found small moons orbiting Pluto have now been officially dubbed Nix and Hydra.
- Health & Medicine
Statins might lower risk of cataracts
Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins might slow the formation of certain types of cataracts in the eye.
- Earth
Radiation Redux: Forest fires remobilize fallout from bomb tests
A sensor installed to monitor fallout from modern nuclear tests has detected small amounts of radioactive cesium produced by bomb tests decades ago and sent skyward by forest fires.
- Health & Medicine
Keep on Going: Busy seniors live longer, more proof that it pays to stay active
Healthy elderly people who burn a lot of calories each day may be gaining extra years of life.
- Anthropology
Little Ancestor, Big Debate: Tiny islanders’ identity sparks dispute
New measurements bolster the 2-year-old claim that fossils of a half-size human ancestor found on an Indonesian island represent a new species.
- Tech
Farm-Fuel Feedback: Soybeans have advantages over corn
A new analysis of two biofuels finds that while both provide more energy than they consume, soybean biodiesel gives more bang for the buck than ethanol made from corn.
