News
- Chemistry
Into the Void: Porous crystals could do more chemistry
Chemists have devised a new approach that creates crystalline material with some of the largest pores yet.
- Animals
Looks Matter: If swallows aren’t spiffy, mates’ fidelity is iffy
If a male barn swallow's plumage is more attractive than that of other males, his mate is less likely to have furtive flings with other wooers.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Falling Influence: Influenza fighters have limited effects
The most readily available drugs against influenza have abruptly declined in effectiveness in the past decade.
By Ben Harder - Planetary Science
Sun grazers: A thousand comets and counting
An amateur astronomer analyzing images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has found the 999th and 1,000th comets detected by the craft.
By Ron Cowen - Tech
Light sensor may improve battlefield tools
A new microscale ultraviolet-light sensor could help shrink the size of some military field systems used for detecting biowarfare agents and clandestine communications to the dimensions of a cell phone.
By Peter Weiss - Earth
Save the frogs
Researchers have drafted a proposed $400 million research-and-rescue plan for the world's amphibians, at least half of which are in decline or even facing serious risk of extinction.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Anti-TB spending abroad could save money overall
Investing $44 million in tuberculosis-control programs in Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic might save the United States nearly triple that amount over the next 20 years.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Acne medicines can be a pain in the throat
Treatment with antibiotics for acne might predispose an individual to getting severe upper respiratory infections.
By Nathan Seppa - Paleontology
DNA pegs Irish elk’s nearest relatives
Analyses of DNA of the Irish elk, which died out after the last ice age, may settle a long-running debate about the creature's place on the deer family tree.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Silenced gene may foretell colon cancer
A cancer-suppressing gene, which is often shut down in colorectal cancer, is sometimes silenced in healthy colorectal tissues as well.
By Nathan Seppa - Tech
Getting a charge out of backpacking
A backpack enhanced with springs, gears, and a generator converts the up-and-down motions of the wearer into enough electricity to power portable electronic gadgets.
By Peter Weiss - Health & Medicine
Sharpening the focus of mammograms
Digital mammography can detect up to one-fourth more cancers than traditional film mammography can in women who are under 50, haven't gone through menopause, or who have dense breast tissue.
By Nathan Seppa