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Math

Lava Lamp Randomness

Sealed within a transparent, tapered, liquid-filled cylinder, illuminated colored globs slowly rise and fall. Meandering and deforming, their shapes and paths change unpredictably. Invented in 1963, a decorative fixture in many homes during the 1970s, and still in production, Lava Lite lamps are now the object of renewed curiosity. Indeed, researchers have come up with […]

Health & Medicine

Tamoxifen dilates arteries in men

The breast cancer drug tamoxifen can widen a narrowed coronary artery in men with heart problems.

Health & Medicine

Long-term ecstasy use impairs memory

Extended use of the illicit drug called MDMA or ecstasy exacerbated memory problems in users aged 17 to 31, none of whom reported alcohol dependence.

Health & Medicine

Peptide puts mouse arthritis out of joint

A compound called vasointestinal peptide, which binds to immune system T cells and macrophages, thwarts arthritis in mice.

Astronomy

Have scientists seen planets in the making?

Astronomers may finally have glimpsed a key step in the construction of a planet.

Earth

Even low lead in kids has a high IQ cost

Lead can damage a young child's ability to learn and reason at exposures far lower than the limit deemed acceptable by the U.S. government.

Physics

New probe reveals unfamiliar inner proton

Researchers taking one of the closest looks yet into the intact proton have found an unexpectedly complex interior electromagnetic environment.

Tech

Getting Nanowired

Makers of nanowires may overcome the limits that loom for microchip fabrication.

Health & Medicine

Epileptic seizures may be predictable

Patterns of mild electrical disturbance in the brains of epilepsy patients appear to foreshadow a seizure hours before its onset.

Materials Science

Inorganic tubes get smaller than ever

Researchers have created the smallest stable, freestanding inorganic nanotubes yet.