Feature
- Health & Medicine
Viral Survivor
Epstein-Barr virus, the cause of diseases ranging from mononucleosis to several kinds of cancer, has begun to reveal how it enters human cells and protects itself from the immune system.
By John Travis -
Return of a Castaway
Wood-eating shipworms have been forging a costly comeback in some U.S. harbors in recent years, yet researchers say that these mislabeled animals (they're clams, not worms) are a scientific treasure.
By Kristin Cobb -
Men of Prey
Scientists have started to uncover the roots of rape and child molesting, although questions remain about whether it's possible to identify who will be a repeat sex offender or to provide effective treatment for such behavior.
By Bruce Bower - Ecosystems
Making Scents of Flowers
Science gets the tools to start sniffing around the ecology of floral scent.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Crisis on Tap?
Because people are becoming ever more dependent on underground aquifers as sources of water, scientists are striving to understand better how groundwater systems interact with the water that flows across Earth's surface.
By Sid Perkins -
- Health & Medicine
NO News
Preliminary research suggests that inhaled nitric oxide may offer a much-needed treatment for patients suffering from complications of sickle cell disease.
- Earth
Liquid Assets
Research provides guidance on how best to bank water during times of plenty for use during subsequent droughts
By Janet Raloff - Chemistry
Buckymedicine
Scientists are turning carbon-cage molecules called fullerenes into drug candidates and medical diagnostic tools.
- Astronomy
Let There Be Spin
X-ray outbursts from two different pairs of stars in our Milky Way are providing clues about how the most rapidly rotating stars in the universe got their spin.
By Ron Cowen - Physics
Double or Nothing
The hunt for a rare, hypothetical nuclear transformation known as neutrinoless double-beta decay may answer one of the most urgent questions in physics today: How much do elementary particles called neutrinos weigh?
By Peter Weiss -
Aphids with Attitude
A few aphid species that live socially in groups raise their own armies of teenage female clones.
By Susan Milius