Uncategorized

  1. Astronomy

    Milky Way black hole gets real

    Tracing the path of a star orbiting near the center of our galaxy, astronomers have found the best evidence to date that a supermassive black hole lies at the Milky Way’s core.

    By Ron Cowen
  2. Astronomy

    Cosmic rays from the solar system

    Dust grains from the Kuiper belt, a storehouse of comets and other frozen bodies in the outer solar system, are the source of some of the lower energy cosmic rays that bombard Earth.

    By Ron Cowen
  3. Health & Medicine

    Schizophrenia spurs imaging network

    Thanks to a federal grant, a team of researchers will establish a national database of brain images that will allow for expanded investigations of the neural basis of schizophrenia.

    By Bruce Bower

  4. 19197

    The article notes that X-ray radiation from XTE J1550-54 jets is puzzling because the radiation of the nearer jet, which is moving toward Earth, isn’t as bright as that of the more distant jet. Perhaps as a jet strikes material, the radiation is dispersed back toward the jet source. Thus, the more distant jet could […]

    By Science News
  5. Astronomy

    Jet Astronomy

    For the first time, scientists have traced the slowing and dimming of X-ray-emitting jets from a black hole.

    By Ron Cowen
  6. Health & Medicine

    Old Drug, New Uses?

    A hormone called erythropoietin, long used to treat anemia, also seems to protect against nerve damage and holds promise as a new therapy for stroke and spinal cord injury.

    By Damaris Christensen

  7. 19151

    While reading your article regarding the primitive antibodies found in lancelets, it occurred to me that complex immune systems might be merely a highly specialized, evolved form of digestion. Presumably, evolutionary adaptation would tend to favor a critter that found a way to consume even those nasty, yucky, infectious microbes. Mel ZernowColusa, Calif.

    By Science News
  8. Health & Medicine

    First Line of Defense: Hints of primitive antibodies

    After looking in primitive marine invertebrates that are considered to be close relatives to vertebrates, immunologists find families of genes that might provide clues as to how early immune systems evolved.

    By Carol Marzuola

  9. Eye-Grabbing Insights: Visual structure grips infants’ attention

    Babies take their first major strides with their eyes, not their legs, as they rapidly distinguish among playpens, pacifiers, and a plethora of other objects.

    By Bruce Bower
  10. Animals

    Lizard’s Choice: Mating test pits physique versus domain

    When she decides to move in, is it him or is it his real estate?

    By Susan Milius
  11. Health & Medicine

    Coconspirator? Genital herpes linked to cervical cancer

    Having a genital herpes infection doubles the risk of cervical cancer among women who have human papillomavirus.

    By Nathan Seppa
  12. Astronomy

    Neutron Star Stuff: Just neutrons, no quarks

    A new study suggests that although neutron stars may be weird, they’re not strange.

    By Ron Cowen