Naila Moreira

All Stories by Naila Moreira

  1. 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.

  2. Tech

    Growing Expectations

    Biofuels made from waste agricultural plant matter are gaining prominence as new technologies make them increasingly competitive with petroleum fuels.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. Materials Science

    Nanotube carpet mimics gecko feet

    Carbon nanotubes can outdo the extraordinary sticking power of a gecko's foot hairs.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.