News
- Earth
Sex and the sewage
Chemicals in sewage sludge appear to have stunted the testes and fostered other reproductive-system changes in fetal lambs.
- Health & Medicine
Monthly cycle changes women’s brains
Activity in a brain region that regulates emotions fluctuates over the course of a woman's menstrual cycle.
- Planetary Science
Cassini snaps icy moon Dione
Saturn's small moon Dione has a heavily-cratered, fractured surface.
- Planetary Science
Protecting Earth: Gravitational tractor could lure asteroids off course
Relying solely on the tug of gravity, a proposed spacecraft could divert an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
- Physics
Ghostly Electrons: Particles flit through atom-thin islands
Electrical measurements of one-atom-thick slices of carbon reveal extraordinary electronic properties, including electrons that seem massless and move at blazing speeds.
- Archaeology
From prison yard to holy ground
Archaeological excavations at a prison near Megiddo, Israel, have unearthed the remains of what may be one of the region's oldest Christian churches.
- Animals
Yikes! The Moon! Bat lunar phobia may come from slim pickings
A study of creatures that fly around at night suggests that scarce food may account for why some bats avoid hunting under a full moon.
- Chemistry
Whiff Weapon: Pheromone might control invasive sea lampreys
Researchers have characterized the primary components of the migratory pheromone that guides sea lampreys to suitable spawning areas.
- Health & Medicine
Statins for Algernon: Cholesterol-lowering drug fights learning disability
A study in mice suggests that a drug prescribed for high cholesterol may reverse learning deficits caused by a common genetic disease.
- Health & Medicine
Protective Progeny: Peptide treats and prevents breast cancer
A synthetic version of a protein present in a woman's body during pregnancy is as effective against breast cancer as the current drug tamoxifen is, according to a study in rodents.
- Anthropology
Gone with the Flow: Ancient Andes canals irrigated farmland
Excavations in the Andes mountains have unearthed the earliest known irrigation canals in South America.
- Paleontology
Big bird terrorized South America
Researchers in Argentina have discovered fossils that may represent the heftiest flightless bird to ever have roamed the planet.
