News
- Health & Medicine
High testosterone linked to prostate cancer risk
Men with naturally high testosterone levels face an elevated risk of prostate cancer, suggesting that men who use hormone supplements to combat age-related problems could also be in trouble.
By Ben Harder - Humans
Tulane’s traveling med school
Houston medical schools opened their facilities to a sister institution in New Orleans whose faculty and students were sent into exile by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters.
By Janet Raloff - Tech
Humane bloodletting
Medical researchers have designed a new lancet that dramatically reduces the pain experienced by lab mice during blood-sampling procedures.
By Janet Raloff -
Flu from horses is racing among dogs
A highly contagious influenza virus that has killed greyhounds and sickened other dogs may have first jumped to canines from a single infected horse.
By Ben Harder - Planetary Science
What whacked the inner solar system?
Planetary scientists have determined that the cavalcade of space debris that hammered the inner solar system for the first 700 million years of its existence were main-belt asteroids, not comets.
By Ron Cowen -
Brains disconnect as people sleep
Rather than turning off completely during sleep, the brain shuts down communication among structures that make up neural networks.
By Bruce Bower - Physics
Transistor laser flaunts twin talents
A transistor that doubles as a laser can now operate at room temperature, bringing it to the verge of practical applications.
By Peter Weiss -
Concentrated Guidance: Attention training gives kids a cognitive push
A brief course on how to pay attention boosts children's scores on either intelligence or attention tests, depending on their age.
By Bruce Bower -
Milky seas clarified
With the help of satellites, scientists have obtained the first-ever photos of an expanse of seawater filled with bioluminescent bacteria.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Ray Font: Supernova remnants rev up ions
High-resolution X-ray images of the Tycho supernova remnant offer new evidence that supernova shock waves generate most cosmic rays that bombard Earth.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Give It Up: Cutting back helps, but even a cigarette or two a day carries risks
Reducing tobacco use curbs the risk of lung cancer, but smoking even a few cigarettes a day puts a person at three to five times the risk faced by a nonsmoker.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Better Beta: Cells grown in lab may treat diabetes
Scientists have developed a technique to mass-produce a type of pancreas cell needed for transplants into people with type 1 diabetes.
By Katie Greene