Feature
- Health & Medicine
Things Just Mesh
Researching are studying ways to make stents, which prop open arteries, even better at keeping these channels open.
- Computing
Sneaky Calculations
The same communication system that brings you the Web page of your choice can be exploited to perform computations.
- Health & Medicine
The Science of Secretin
The discovery that a gut hormone also exists in the brain may shed light on the origins of autism.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Trans Fats
Increasing evidence links trans fats to health problems, and some researchers are looking for ways to reduce the fats in food.
- Health & Medicine
The Seeds of Malaria
By studying the molecular footprints of evolution in parasites and human hosts, geneticists are casting light on when and how malaria became the menace it is.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Attacking Alzheimer’s
Some researchers now suggest that the so-called amyloid hypothesis is overstated and that other entities, including tau tangles, are as important as beta-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease.
- Health & Medicine
Brain Food
New food labeling will identify foods rich in choline, a nutrient that plays an integral role in learning and brain health.
By Janet Raloff -
Plight of the Untouchables
Stigma's largely unexplored effects on the health of people sufering from ailments ranging from AIDS to schizophrenia attracted much interest at a recent conference.
By Bruce Bower - Plants
Torn to Ribbons in the Desert
Botanists puzzle over one of Earth's oddest plants: the remarkably scraggly Welwitschia of southwestern Africa.
By Susan Milius -
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?
Some scientists suggest that a better understanding of hair biology might not only lead to new treatments for people with too little (or too much) hair but also shed light on cancer, the growth and development of bodily organs, and other matters.
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Dolly Was Lucky
Scientists studying the data on animal cloning argue that cloning a person would be unsafe.
By John Travis - Chemistry
Burned by Flame Retardants?
One particular class of flame retardants—polybrominated diphenyl ethers—is accumulating at alarming rates in the environment, taints human breast milk, and has toxic effects similar to the now-banned PCBs.