News
- Ecosystems
Antarctic birds are breeding later
Rising global temperatures are causing Arctic birds to breed earlier in the spring, but for Antarctic birds, the reverse is true.
- Planetary Science
Brilliant! Tenth planet turns out to be a shiner
Xena, unofficially called the 10th planet, is the second-most-shiny known object in the solar system.
- Chemistry
Dynamic Duo: Two catalysts build valuable carbon chains
By combining the power of two well-known reactions, chemists have devised a way to alter the length of linear carbon chains.
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Sleeper Finding: Hormone key to hibernation?
A recently discovered hormone may play a major role in triggering and maintaining hibernation.
- Earth
Limited Storage: Lack of nutrients will constrain carbon uptake
Even though the carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere acts as a fertilizer for plants, the planet's vegetation won't be able to sequester large amounts of that greenhouse gas in the long term because it will quickly run out of other nutrients.
- Animals
Into Hot Water: Lab test shows that worms seek heat
Worms from deep-sea vents prefer water at temperatures near the upper limit of what animals are known to survive.
- Health & Medicine
Estrogen Safety: Studies raise cancer, blood clot questions
Two studies provide conflicting findings on estrogen therapy's effect on breast cancer risk, while a third study suggests that the hormone contributes to blood clot formation.
- Health & Medicine
Microbe Hunt: Novel bacterium infects immune-deficient people
A newfound bacterium can cause illness in people who have a rare, inherited form of immune deficiency.
- Anthropology
Branchless Evolution: Fossils point to single hominid root
Fossils of a 4.1-million-year-old human ancestor in Ethiopia bolster the controversial idea that early members of our evolutionary family arose one species at a time rather than branching out into numerous species.
- Animals
Foodfree growth
Rattlesnakes undergo a hibernation-like state to survive long periods of famine, while continuing to grow longer.
- Health & Medicine
Alcohol spurs cancer growth
Downing the human equivalent of two to four alcoholic drinks per day dramatically spurs the growth of cancers implanted in lab mice.
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Do flame retardants make people fat?
Fat cells exposed to brominated flame retardants undergo changes that would appear to foster obesity and type 2 diabetes.
