All Stories by Beth Mole
- Neuroscience
Cold War collaboration probed possible viral cause of ALS
A mid-1960s collaboration between American and Soviet researchers explored a possible viral cause of ALS.
- Chemistry
Retraction looms for brute-force chemistry study
A 2011 study on tearing apart ring-shaped molecules is set to be retracted following a misconduct investigation.
- Chemistry
Nylon goes green
A new simple chemical reaction makes manufacturing nylon less harmful to the planet.
- Climate
Year in review: Climate warnings heat up
Climate change is here and the world is unprepared, scientists and policy makers declared multiple times in 2014.
- Environment
Year in review: Microbes exploit their killer
Triclosan, an unregulated antimicrobial chemical found in consumer products, may aid, rather than deter, microbes that invade people’s bodies.
- Ecosystems
Bee losses followed World Wars
British historical records show a century-long decline of important pollinators: bees and some wasps.
- Chemistry
Early asteroid impacts may have aided life’s origin
RNA ingredients found in laser-induced simulation of explosions.
- Climate
Greenhouse gases may spell wet future for Africa
Greenhouse gases played a role in boosting rainfall in Africa 14,000 to 21,000 years ago, a finding that may help predict future abundance of water on the continent.
- Microbes
Microbes floating among clouds may munch on sugar
Floating in a cloud and noshing sweets while wrapped in a cozy bubble sounds like a pleasant dream. For some lucky bacteria, it may be a reality.
- Chemistry
Radioactive fuel turns to goo during nuclear meltdown
Experiments reveal the atomic rearrangements that occur within uranium dioxide when nuclear reactors fail.
- Environment
DDT lingers in Michigan town
Decades after a plant manufacturing DDT shut down in Michigan, the harmful insecticide is still found in neighboring birds and eggs.
- Environment
Colorado deluge produced flood of drug-resistance genes
Flooding in Colorado’s South Platte River Basin washed antibiotics and drug-resistance genes into pristine waterways.
