News

Health & Medicine

Virus Shield: Ebola vaccine works fast in monkey test

Tests on monkeys show that an experimental vaccine can build immunity against Ebola virus within a month, suggesting the vaccine might help contain outbreaks of the deadly pathogen.

Computing

Resistance leaps as magnetism mounts

A tiny traffic island for electrons promises to serve as an extraordinarily sensitive detector of magnetic fields.

Tech

Robots making robots, with some help

A new type of robotic system that designs and produces robotic offspring may represent a first step toward self-replicating "artificial life."

Computing

Going to digital extremes

A researcher designs the ultimate laptop, stretching the laws of physics to their limits to achieve blazing computation rates.

Earth

Bt corn pollen can hurt monarchs

A second test of a strain of corn genetically engineered to make its own insecticide finds potential for harm to monarch butterfly caterpillars.

Ecosystems

Virtual skylarks suffer weed shortfall

A new mathematical model raises the concern that switching to transgenic herbicide-tolerant crops could deprive birds of weed seeds.

Archaeology

Maya palace suddenly expands

Archaeologists find a sprawling palace and other surprises at a 1,300-year-old Maya site in Guatemala.

Humans

Postdocs warrant more status and support

A new study finds a pressing need to improve the pay and status of postdoctoral scholars.

Earth

Small quake shakes up hydrothermal vents

Long-term, post-earthquake fluctuations in the temperature and volume of water spewing from hydrothermal vents off the coast of Washington state suggest that the fluid flow feeding such vents may be much more complex than previously thought.

Tech

Device ups hydrogen energy from sunlight

A solar-electric cell that stands above an acid bath on electrode legs has converted light to hydrogen fuel with unprecedented efficiency.