News
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Meds Alert: Old schizophrenia drug stands up to new ones
A new, much-touted generation of antipsychotic drugs generally yields no more improvement in people with schizophrenia than an older, cheaper antipsychotic medication does.
- Humans
Docs shy away from telling kids they’re heavy
A major study has found that doctors don't routinely discuss a child's weight problems with the family, and that the younger the child the less likely the topic will come up.
- Earth
Liquid-detergent packets threaten children’s eyes
Sealed bags containing liquid detergent for single loads of laundry may be convenient, but if squeezed, they're liable to burst and spray their caustic contents into people's eyes.
- Anthropology
Genes tied to recent brain evolution
Two genes already known to influence brain size have undergone relatively recent, survival-enhancing modifications in people and appear to be still evolving.
- Planetary Science
Icy world found inside asteroid
New observations of Ceres, the largest known asteroid, hint that frozen water may account for as much as 25 percent of its interior.
- Health & Medicine
Deaths in early 1918 heralded flu pandemic
An examination of New York City death records from early last century suggests that the world's deadliest flu virus was on the loose in New York several months before it exploded into the 1918-1919 global pandemic.
- Earth
Sow what? Climate reviews help farmers choose
African subsistence farmers are far likelier to leverage rainfall forecasts into better crop yields after attending workshops explaining the basis for the rain predictions.
- Ecosystems
West Nile virus fells endangered condor
A 3-month-old California condor chick, one of only four of this highly endangered species born in the wild this year, succumbed to a West Nile virus infection.
- Astronomy
Keeping Hubble from being hobbled
NASA late last month shut down one of the aging Hubble Space Telescope's three gyros in an effort to extend its life.
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***Notice to Subscribers in Areas Affected by Hurricane Katrina***
The U.S. Postal Service has asked magazine publishers to suspend subscription mailings to areas that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Science News subscribers in those areas won't be charged for issues that are withheld, and their subscriptions will be extended. Mailings will resume upon notification by the USPS that delivery is reinstated.
- Tech
Stepping Lightly: New view of how human gaits conserve energy
Using a simple mathematical model, scientists may have pinpointed the key aspects of human locomotion that make ordinary walking and running the most energy-efficient ways for people to get around on foot.
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Forever Young: Digging for the roots of stem cells
Three proteins have been shown to function as master regulators that shut off differentiation and enable stem cells to retain their capacity to develop into any type of cell.
