All Stories by Naila Moreira
- Health & Medicine
In Pixels and in Health
By simulating individual cells and their behavior inside the human body using a computer technique called agent-based modeling, scientists are gaining new insight into disease progression.
- Tech
Growing Expectations
Biofuels made from waste agricultural plant matter are gaining prominence as new technologies make them increasingly competitive with petroleum fuels.
- Health & Medicine
X Ray Excels: Technique brings a new image to medicine
Recent advances in a technique called phase-contrast x-ray imaging could make it easier for physicians to spot tumors, clogged arteries, and other soft-tissue problems.
- Animals
Out of the Jungle: New lemurs found in Madagascar’s forests
Two new species of lemur have been discovered in Madagascar, the only home of these tiny and endangered primates.
- Materials Science
Nanotube carpet mimics gecko feet
Carbon nanotubes can outdo the extraordinary sticking power of a gecko's foot hairs.
- Humans
Space Woes: NASA programs reel from shuttle problems
Technological problems for NASA's space shuttle Discovery, such as falling foam and dangling insulation, are causing safety worries and throwing a crimp into the U.S. space program.
- Tech
Easy Striders
New robots based on the mechanics of human walking use less energy and move more naturally than traditional bipedal robots do, suggesting new ways to approach two-legged robots and prosthetic design.
- Astronomy
Crater Shake: Tremors erased asteroid’s topography
Seismic shock waves from a large meteor impact on the asteroid Eros might have rearranged surface rubble, destroying crater structures over much of the asteroid.
- Health & Medicine
Brain Power: Stem cells put a check on nerve disorders
Adult neural stem cells protect the brain against repeated episodes of inflammation in disorders such as multiple sclerosis by killing inflammatory immune cells.
- Health & Medicine
Beans, Beans, Good for the Heart
Consumption of black beans, a traditional part of Latin American and Hispanic diets, results in a lower risk of heart disease, but urbanizing populations are eating ever less of this healthy food.
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Sleepless in SeaWorld: Some newborns and moms forgo slumber
Orca-whale and dolphin babies and their mothers appear to skip sleep for as long as a month after the pups' birth.
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Grow in the Dark: Bottom-dwelling bacterium survives on geothermal glow
A newly described species of photosynthetic microorganism uses light from hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to power its metabolism, making it the first such organism to use a light source other than the sun.
