News
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Earth
Pack Rat Piles: Rodent rubbish provides ice age thermometer
Analyses of fossilized plant remnants collected by pack rats reveal that the Grand Canyon was much cooler than previously thought during the latter part of the last ice age.
