News
- Health & Medicine
Problems for Preemies: Early birth is linked to insulin overproduction
Children born prematurely are more likely than their full-term counterparts to develop insulin resistance, a marker for diabetes.
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Unhealthy Change: Diversity in a bacterial colony can prolong infections
Bacteria that live in biofilms can diversify into several different types, making infections harder to treat.
- Tech
Lighthearted Transistor: Electronic workhorse moonlights as laser
A versatile new transistor amplifies electricity and emits a laser beam.
- Chemistry
Busy Beads: Magnetic dust takes droplets for a ride
With a bit of dust and a magnet, chemists can shuttle drops around on a surface, an advance that could lead to chemistry labs on a chip.
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Profiles in Melancholy, Resilience: Abused kids react to genetics, adult support
Abused and neglected children who possess two copies of a gene that affects brain chemistry develop depression at an elevated rate only if they also lack support from at least one adult.
- Paleontology
Plenty of dinosaurs yet to be found
Despite a dramatic surge in dinosaur discoveries in recent years, paleontologists won't soon run out of interesting new fossils to unearth, a new analysis suggests.
- Paleontology
. . . and the big bird that didn’t
The California condor, one of today's largest and rarest birds, may have survived the last ice age because of its varied diet.
- Paleontology
The big fish that went away . . .
Fossils found near Charleston, S.C., suggest that an extinct species of billfish related to today's swordfish and marlin would easily exceed the lengths documented for world-record specimens of those oft-sought sports fish.
- Health & Medicine
Staph receptor as drug target
A receptor molecule on the surface of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus might present an exploitable weak spot in the microbe's defenses.
- Health & Medicine
A vaccine for cervical cancer
A vaccine against human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, has proved 94 percent effective in preventing the virus from infecting women.
- Earth
Choked Up: How dead zones affect fish reproduction
Some Gulf coast fish exposed to low oxygen are experiencing reproductive problems, and lab studies suggest that a particular protein that silences or reduces sex hormones may be to blame.
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Synchronized Thinking: Brain activity linked to schizophrenia, skillful meditation
In separate studies, scientists linked distinctive, collective electrical discharges of brain cells to certain schizophrenia symptoms as well to integrated mental states attained by Buddhist meditators.
