Ben Harder
Trustworthy journalism comes at a price.
Scientists and journalists share a core belief in questioning, observing and verifying to reach the truth. Science News reports on crucial research and discovery across science disciplines. We need your financial support to make it happen – every contribution makes a difference.
All Stories by Ben Harder
-
Health & Medicine
Garlic interferes with HIV drug
Garlic supplements interact negatively with a protease inhibitor medication taken by people infected with HIV.
-
Health & Medicine
A glass of red may keep arteries loose
A newly uncovered effect of a compound abundant in red wines may provide the mechanism needed to explain how reds could outperform whites and rosés in reducing heart disease.
-
Health & Medicine
Prenatal folate averts child leukemia
Even a little supplementary folate during pregnancy now appears to reduce the risk that the child will develop acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
-
Health & Medicine
Virus Shapes Risk of Multiple Sclerosis
A huge, decade-long study bolsters the link between Epstein-Barr virus and the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis by showing that the common infection is more active in people who later develop symptoms of the disease.
-
Health & Medicine
Newfound flu protein may kill immune cells
A dash of serendipity led to the discovery of a new protein, produced by most strains of the influenza A virus.
-
Anthropology
Evolving in Their Graves
Understanding what early, rudimentary burials meant to modern humans' antecedents—assuming early humans did, in fact, bury their dead—could help anthropologsts untangle a lasting mystery of human evolution.
-
Health & Medicine
Low Radiation Hurts Bystander Cells
New research confirms that alpha particles from decaying radon atoms can damage neighboring cells they don't directly hit and suggests a mechanism for this so-called bystander effect.
-
Earth
Fishy data hid decline in global catch
Many coastal fisheries are in trouble, yet according to figures reported to the United Nations, the annual global yield has appeared to be stable or even growing.
-
Physics
Mishap halts work at Japanese neutrino lab
A costly accident has indefinitely disabled Super-Kamiokande, a cutting-edge neutrino detector in Japan.
-
Earth
Coral-killing army recruits human bugs
The army of pathogens responsible for black band disease, which kills corals, contains some human bacteria that polluted waters carry out to sea.
-
Earth
Greeks sailed into ancient Trojan bay
A combination of sedimentary analysis and careful reading of classical literature helps pinpoint where the Greek fleet that attacked Troy came ashore.
-
Earth
Warm spell did little for Eocene flora
A rapid warming period that began the Eocene epoch dramatically reshaped North America's animal community but not the continent's plants.