News
- Health & Medicine
Tracking down an emerging disease
By examining geographic patterns of outbreaks of a disfiguring skin disease in tropical nations, scientists are finding tentative clues about how the ailment spreads.
- Earth
. . . and churn up big waves, too
As Hurricane Ivan approached the U.S. Gulf Coast last September, sensors detected the largest wave ever measured by instruments.
- Earth
A hurricane can dump a lot of rain . . .
Hurricanes can drop enormous amounts of precipitation in a short amount of time, a phenomenon that residents of Puerto Rico experienced in spades when Hurricane Georges struck the island in 1998.
- Health & Medicine
Obesity and insulin resistance age cells
Conditions known to hasten diabetes in people may also speed aging.
- Plants
World’s fastest plant explodes with pollen
A high-speed camera has revealed the explosive pollen launches of bunchberry dogwood flowers as the fastest plant motion known.
- Planetary Science
Renegade moon
Saturn's outlier moon Phoebe didn't coalesce from material near the ringed planet but was captured from the distant Kuiper belt.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine Gains: Shot protects seniors from shingles flare-ups
An experimental vaccine prevents half of all cases of shingles, a painful skin disease that typically afflicts the elderly.
- Tech
Smart Trap: Nanosensor tracks major brain chemical
The study of neurological diseases and brain functions could get a lot more precise with the invention of an optical sensor that can closely monitor a key chemical in the brain.
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Decoding Garlic’s Pizzazz: Extract stimulates taste, temperature receptors
Raw garlic's characteristic spiciness stems from its capacity to open channels on nerve cells that react both to tastes and noxious temperatures.
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Investing on a Whiff: Chemical spray shows power as trust booster
Individuals who smell a brain hormone known as oxytocin become unusually trusting of others in financial transactions.
- Planetary Science
High Anxiety: Sudden solar flare highlights space risks
Measurements of energetic particles from an unusually strong solar flare that pummeled Earth early this year suggest that astronauts traveling or working in space might sometimes need to reach shelter within minutes of a warning.
- Animals
Anemone Wars: Clone armies deploy scouts, attack tidally
The first description of clashing armies of sea anemones has revealed unsuspected military tactics.
