Uncategorized
- Astronomy
Big Flash: Record-breaking explosion in outer space
The brightest flash of light ever recorded from beyond the solar system could help account for a puzzling group of extremely short-lived gamma-ray bursts from distant galaxies.
By Ron Cowen - Animals
The Old Crowd: Minke whales have long thrived in Antarctic seas
Genetic studies of whale meat from Tokyo grocery stores appear to strengthen the case for protecting Antarctica's minke whales against renewed hunting.
By Susan Milius - Astronomy
Ghostly Galaxy: Massive, dark cloud intrigues scientists
Astronomers say they have found the only known galaxy devoid of stars.
By David Shiga -
- Health & Medicine
Study can’t tie EMFs to cancer
A massive, long-term Swedish study has found no sign that occupational exposures to electromagnetic fields might trigger breast cancer in women.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Lava fountain driven by reservoir of gas
The gases driving a lava fountain that spewed from Italy's Mount Etna in June 2000 had accumulated in a reservoir 1.5 kilometers below the mountain's peak, chemical analyses suggest.
By Sid Perkins - Physics
A quantum fluid pipes up
After 40 years of trying, physicists have heard a quantum-mechanical whistle emanating from two reservoirs of oscillating liquid helium separated by a perforated membrane.
By Peter Weiss - Earth
Adding mussel to environmental assessments
Researchers have developed a new technique, using mussel shells, that could aid in autopsies of aquatic ecosystems that perished for unknown reasons.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Ketone diet could help in Parkinson’s
A strict low-carb diet long used to treat some people with epilepsy has been tailored so that it might fight Parkinson's disease.
By Ben Harder - Earth
PCBs damage fish immune systems
A common Arctic fish can suffer subtle immunological impairments from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls at concentrations recorded in some remote polar waters.
By Janet Raloff - Anthropology
Human fossils are oldest yet
Homo sapiens fossils found along Ethiopia's Omo River in 1967 date to 195,000 years ago, making them the oldest-known remains of our species.
By Bruce Bower -
19520
Early in our history, U.S. citizens ate bushmeat. We hunted deer, bear, squirrel, rabbit, possum, turkey, pheasant, armadillo, and other wild game. We hunted because it was easier to hunt than to earn the money necessary to buy meat. We diminished our supply of wild game. Africans are simply doing what we used to do. […]
By Science News