Feature
- Chemistry
Chemistry au Naturel
Chemists aim to mimic natural systems with the hope of developing more-efficient chemical processes that are also less harmful to the environment.
- Health & Medicine
Dangerous Practices
Pharmaceutical companies' overaggressive marketing of risky drugs, compounded by conflicts of interest among physicians and government agencies, is hurting public safety, some researchers assert.
By Ben Harder - Anthropology
Cultivating Revolutions
New studies suggest that farmers spread from the Middle East throughout Europe beginning around 10,000 years ago in a multitude of small migrations that rapidly changed the continent's social and cultural landscape.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
One in a Million
A 15-year-old girl in Wisconsin has survived a rabies infection without receiving the rabies vaccine, a first in medical history.
By Nathan Seppa - Earth
When Mountains Fizz
Scientists are finding that the driving force behind a volcanic explosion is the same thing that propels spewing soda pop: bubbles.
By Sid Perkins - Tech
Matrix Realized
Devices called brain-computer interfaces could give paralyzed patients the ability to flex mechanical limbs, steer a motorized wheelchair, or operate robots through sheer brainpower.
- Humans
Nobel Celebrations
A firsthand account unveils the pageantry that surrounds the awarding of the Nobel prizes in Stockholm.
By Emily Sohn - Astronomy
The Hole Story
New evidence suggests that supermassive black holes have an impact on the evolution of galaxies that goes far beyond their gravitational grasp.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Palm-Nut Problem
The ancient custom of chewing areca nuts is getting more popular as young Asians take up the habit, but betel-nut chewing has been linked to several types of oral cancer.
-
Proteins in the Stretch
Scientists are for the first time getting a feel for how proteins fold and unfold.
By David Shiga - Health & Medicine
Food Colorings
Many deeply hued plant pigments appear to offer health benefits, from fighting heart disease and obesity to preserving memory.
By Janet Raloff - Tech
Frankenstein’s Chips
As evidence mounts that drug-safety trials can miss dangerous effects, scientists are building living, miniature models of animals and people to enhance drug and chemical tests.
By Peter Weiss