All Stories by Ben Harder
- 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.
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
Against the Migraine
Migraines may be among the problems that stem from a common but rarely diagnosed heart defect, and researchers have discovered that repairing the defect cures some of the headaches.
- Earth
Subway air does extra damage
Airborne particles in subterranean transit stations may be more damaging to human cells than are particles from street-level air.
- Earth
Natural or Synthetic? Test reveals origin of chemicals in blubber
Natural compounds that are chemically akin to certain industrial chemicals wend their way up marine food chains and accumulate in whale blubber.
- Agriculture
Illegal cigarettes pack toxic punch
Tobacco used in counterfeit cigarettes is apparently grown using metal-laced fertilizers, making the fake products even more harmful than the real things.
- Health & Medicine
When Ebola Looms: Human outbreaks follow animal infections
A network of organizations in an African region prone to Ebola epidemics has identified the virus in wild-animal remains prior to two recent human outbreaks, suggesting that animal carcasses may provide timely clues that could prevent the disease from spreading to people.
- Health & Medicine
Dangerous Practices
Pharmaceutical companies' overaggressive marketing of risky drugs, compounded by conflicts of interest among physicians and government agencies, is hurting public safety, some researchers assert.
- Humans
The Heights of School Science: Select student research rises to the top
Forty high school students have each earned a slot in the final round of the 2005 Intel Science Talent Search.
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Whalebones show damage from diving
Long-lived sperm whales typically develop bone damage not previously observed in marine mammals but found in some human divers who surface quickly or dive frequently.
- Earth
Air pollution trims fetal growth
Pregnant women who breathe polluted air deliver babies that are typically slightly smaller than those born to other mothers.
- Earth
Living in a Fog: Secondhand smoke may dull kids’ wits
Millions of U.S. children may have reading deficits because of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.
