Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
EPA issues greenhouse-gas rules for new factories and more
EPA released new rules on greenhouse-gas emissions for new power plants, factories and oil refineries — any big new facility, really that emits huge amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, or any of several other classes of chemicals. Existing facilities can continue to spew greenhouse gases at current levels.
- Ecosystems
Spill update: From booms to dispersants
Choppy seas prevailed in the northern Gulf of Mexico on May 13, with even protected waters hostingrough 4 to 5 foot waves, according to the Coast Guard. But three-plus weeks into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and ensuing spill from a BP exploratory well, measures to respond to the catastrophe continued ramping up.
- Chemistry
Chinese would turn cigarette butts into steel’s guardian
People smoke a lot of cigarettes, which leads to a lot of trash. Tom Novotny has done the math: An estimated 5.6 trillion butts each year end up littering the global environment. But Chinese researchers have a solution: recycling. Their new data indicate that an aqueous extract of stinky butts makes a great corrosion inhibitor for steel.
- Humans
Grown men swap bodies with virtual girl
People who undergo virtual-reality perspective shifts feel like they’ve switched bodies with a virtual character.
- Life
Eureka, brain makes real mental leaps
Studies of rats reveal neuron activity changes en masse during aha moments.
- Animals
Mirror, mirror on the wall, you’re the scariest fish of all
That thing in the mirror may be more upsetting than a real fish.
- Health & Medicine
Global child deaths on decline
Infectious diseases kept numbers for 2008 staggeringly high, with 8.8 million children dying before age 5, a new survey shows.
- Health & Medicine
Sickle-cell anemia tied to cognitive impairment
Patients with the hereditary condition score worse on standardized tests than people without it.
- Psychology
Bereaved relatives helped by chance to view body after sudden loss
Grieving people rarely regret having seen a dead loved one, even in cases of violent death, a British study suggests.
- Science & Society
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair begins
Young scientists converge in San Jose, Calif., where they will compete for over $4 million in scholarships and prizes.
- Space
Asteroid-bound: Scientists look for worthy rock
Scientists consider how to pick a prime asteroid for human exploration
- Health & Medicine
Taste of power goes to the head, then muscles
Just a swish of the carbohydrates in an energy drink can increase muscle performance, a study suggests.
