All Stories by Ben Harder
- Paleontology
New fossils threaten an extinction theory
Recent discoveries of long-dead marine invertebrates call into question the occurrence of a catastrophic global extinction during the Late Devonian period, between 385 and 375 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
The Seeds of Malaria
By studying the molecular footprints of evolution in parasites and human hosts, geneticists are casting light on when and how malaria became the menace it is.
- Health & Medicine
Even high-normal blood pressure is too high
Blood pressure at the high end of what is defined as the normal range is closer to "high" than to "normal" in terms of risk of associated heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Beta-blockade guards burn victims’ muscle
A medication that reduces the risk of heart attack also can diminish a muscle-wasting metabolic response common among victims of severe trauma or illness.
- Health & Medicine
Hormone wards off immune cells in womb
A hormone known for its involvement in the brain's response to stress also plays a key role in shielding the developing embryo from its mother's immune system.
- Astronomy
Distant spiral galaxy poses for Gemini
The newly operating Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph instrument on the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, took a high-resolution composite photograph of a galaxy 30 million light-years away.
- Health & Medicine
EMFs in home may limit night hormone
A pair of studies suggests a link, at least in some women, between elevated residential exposure to electromagnetic fields and reduced production of the hormone melatonin.
- Astronomy
Probe’s comet encounter yields close-ups
A crippled NASA probe successfully navigated close enough to Comet Borrelly to capture and beam home black-and-white and infared images of its nucleus and new data about ions and other particles that radiate from it.
- Paleontology
New Fossils Resolve Whale’s Origin
The first discovery of early whale fossils with key ankle bones intact provides compelling paleontological evidence that whales are closely related to many living ungulates, a relationship already supported by molecular data.
- Ecosystems
Fierce invader steals nests from a native fish
The round goby, a Eurasian fish that has invaded the Great Lakes, is causing the decline of the mottled sculpin by displacing the native from its spawning sites.
