News
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Worst of Two Worlds: Hybrid mosquitoes spread West Nile virus
Interbreeding between two Old World mosquito species may explain why their blood-sucking brethren in the United States transmit West Nile virus to people as readily as they do.
By Ben Harder - Physics
Bubble Fusion: Once-maligned claim rebounds
Researchers who reported 2 years ago that they created nuclear-fusion reactions inside bubbles imploding in a vat of liquid acetone have now bolstered their controversial claim with new evidence.
By Peter Weiss - Anthropology
Early Ancestors Come Together: Humanity’s roots may lie in single, diverse genus
Newly discovered fossil teeth in eastern Africa that are more than 5 million years old suggest that the earliest members of the human family evolved as a single, anatomically diverse genus.
By Bruce Bower - Animals
Jungle Genes: First bird genome is decoded
Researchers have unveiled a draft of the first bird genome to be sequenced, a vintage chicken.
By Susan Milius -
Sunny Solution: Lotion speeds DNA repair, protects mice from skin cancer
Snippets of DNA that activate a cell's DNA repair process may protect mice from skin cancer caused by ultraviolet radiation.
By John Travis - Planetary Science
Red Planet Makes a Splash: Rover finds gush of evidence for past water
A robotic rover on Mars has gathered what scientists are calling the best evidence to date that liquid water once flowed on the Red Planet.
By Ron Cowen - Chemistry
Clean hydrogen fuel from corn?
A new reactor can convert ethanol from corn into hydrogen fuel with enough efficiency to make the process economical.
- Tech
Silicon goes optical
The advent of a fast, light-manipulating microdevice made from silicon suggests that speedy optical-fiber links now too expensive for broad use in businesses and homes may soon become widespread.
By Peter Weiss - Health & Medicine
Quantum sentinels
Quantum physics may soon help physicians track whether a cancer has spread.
- Health & Medicine
Gene transfer puts good fats in mammals
Scientists have used a worm gene to genetically engineer mice whose tissues are unusually rich in the heart-healthy fats found mainly in fish.
By Ben Harder - Astronomy
Pulsar pas de deux
Astronomers have for the first time discovered two pulsars orbiting each other, offering the chance for new precision tests of Einstein's theory of general relativity.
By Ron Cowen -
Keeping abreast of serotonin’s roles
Serotonin, a chemical typically associated with the brain, also controls milk production in mammary glands.
By John Travis