News
- Chemistry
Amino acid lends a heavy hand
Scientists have identified a mechanism to explain how amino acids evolved to become exclusively left-handed in all living organisms.
- Tech
Smart dust can swarm target
Microscopic mirrors can swarm a target and produce an optical signal that identifies the target to the observer.
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Flag raised for kids’ mental health
A study of North Carolina children and teenagers finds that at least 1 in 3 developed one or more psychiatric disorders by age 16.
- Planetary Science
A phoenix on Mars
If all goes according to plan, a spacecraft will land on the north polar region of Mars in 2008 and scoop up samples of the icy terrain.
- Anthropology
Continental Survivors: Baja skulls shake up American ancestry
Members of a foraging group that lived on Mexico's Baja peninsula around 600 years ago were direct descendants of America's first settlers, who arrived on the continent at least 12,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Zealous Adherence: Erratic HIV therapy hasn’t fueled resistance
Among people infected with HIV, those who don't consistently take their antiretroviral drugs as prescribed are no more likely to develop drug-resistant HIV than are patients who adhere to their treatment schedule.
- Materials Science
Sopping Up Heavy Metal: Hybrid material removes mercury from water
A hybrid material consisting of a bacterial protein and a temperature-sensitive polymer proves efficient at removing mercury from contaminated water.
- Animals
Skin Chemistry: Poison frogs upgrade toxins from prey
For the first time, scientists have found a poisonous frog that takes up a toxin from its prey and then tweaks the chemical to make it a more deadly weapon.
- Astronomy
Hubble Highlights a Riddle: What’s the source of quick-return comets?
New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope demonstrate that scientists don't know where a major class of comets comes from.
- Planetary Science
Cozying up to Mars
The Hubble Space Telescope photographed Mars on Aug. 27 when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000 years, enabling the telescope to take the sharpest global image of Mars ever taken from Earth's vicinity.
- Archaeology
Art on the Rocks: Dating ancient paintings in the caves of Borneo
By dating the mineral deposits on top of cave paintings in Borneo, archaeologists have pushed back the date of earliest human habitation on the island by at least 5,000 years.
- Health & Medicine
Double Shot: Anthrax vaccine gets makeover
An experimental anthrax vaccine appears to spur production of antibodies that stop the bacterium and disable the anthrax toxin at the same time.
