All Stories by Ben Harder
- Health & Medicine
3-D Vision: New technique could improve breast cancer screening, diagnosis
An experimental alternative to standard mammography could, by the end of this decade, become an essential tool for spotting breast cancer.
- Ecosystems
Valuing Nature
With help from ecotourism-oriented commerce, the threatened birds of Uganda's Mabira Forest Reserve might just save themselves and set an example for conservationists elsewhere.
- Health & Medicine
Staring into the Dark
Amid a growing array of medications for treating insomnia, sleep researchers point to large gaps in their knowledge about which of these medicines work best and for how long they remain effective.
- Earth
Global Wetting and Drying: Regions face opposing prospects for water supply
In the next half century, rivers and streams in some parts of the world will diminish in flow, while waterways elsewhere rise in output, according to a new analysis of climate simulations.
- Animals
Beyond Falsetto: Do mice sing at ultrasonic frequencies?
Male mice may serenade prospective mates at pitches about two octaves higher than the shrillest sounds audible to the human ear. With Audio.
- Earth
Breaking Waves: Mangroves shielded parts of coast from tsunami
Along a strip of India's southeastern coastline, trees protected certain villages from last December's tsunami, while waves wiped out neighboring settlements that weren't sheltered by vegetation.
- Health & Medicine
Weight-Loss Costs: A critical look at gastric surgery
Obese people who opt for weight-loss surgery incur increased odds of subsequent hospitalization and, in some groups, a substantial risk of death.
- Health & Medicine
Antibodies Counter Diabetes
Monoclonal antibodies that target immune cells can save pancreatic cells from the immune system for more than a year in people with type 1 diabetes.
- Earth
Drought’s heat killed Southwest’s piñon forests
The heat accompanying a drought and a plague of bark beetles seem to explain the deaths of swathes of piñon pine trees across the Southwest in 2002 and 2003.
- Earth
Fertility and Pollution: Dirty air, ozone linked to sperm troubles
Men develop lower sperm counts and produce more sperm with fragmented DNA when the air has higher levels of ozone and other pollutants.
- Health & Medicine
High testosterone linked to prostate cancer risk
Men with naturally high testosterone levels face an elevated risk of prostate cancer, suggesting that men who use hormone supplements to combat age-related problems could also be in trouble.
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Flu from horses is racing among dogs
A highly contagious influenza virus that has killed greyhounds and sickened other dogs may have first jumped to canines from a single infected horse.
