News
- Astronomy
Infrared telescope spies mountains of star creation
Viewing a star-making region in the infrared, the Spitzer Space Telescope has captured mountains of gas and dust being eroded by winds and radiation from a massive star, triggering waves of star birth.
- Tech
Hidden in Disorder: Chaos-encrypted information goes the distance
Scientists have demonstrated that a message encrypted in a chaotic laser signal can be transmitted more than 100 kilometers through a commercial optical-fiber network.
- Animals
Tszzzzzt! Electric fish may jam rivals’ signals
An electric fish appears to sabotage a rival's electric signals as a fight starts. With Audio and Video.
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Way to Glow: Butterfly-wing structure matches high-tech lights’ design
The blue-green wings of the swallowtail butterfly harbor an intricate optical system with a design reminiscent of the latest in light-emitting diode technology.
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Mental Meeting of the Sexes: Boys’ spatial advantage fades in poor families
The frequently observed superiority of boys to girls on tests of spatial skill disappears in children of poor families, indicating that this mental ability responds more sensitively to environmental influences than has been assumed.
- Paleontology
Ancient Grazers: Find adds grass to dinosaur menu
Analyses of fossilized dinosaur feces in India reveal the remains of at least five types of grasses, a surprising finding that's the first evidence of grass-eating dinosaurs and an indication that grasses diversified much earlier than previously recognized.
- Health & Medicine
Our big fat cancer statistics
A new analysis of data from a 2002 report shows that obesity is the second-largest cause of cancer in the United States.
- Health & Medicine
Wearing your food
A broccoli extract, applied to the skin, has been found to reduce the incidence of skin tumors in mice.
- Health & Medicine
Dairy fats cut colon cancer risk
High-fat dairy foods appear to confer protection against colon cancer.
- 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.
