News
-
Earth
When do EMFs disturb the heart?
Whether electromagnetic fields can blunt the healthy variability in heart rate may depend on an exposed individual being aroused or stressed during exposure.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Methylmercury’s toxic toll
More than 60,000 children are born each year with neurodevelopmental impairments due to their prenatal exposure to methylmercury.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
China: A mercury megapolluter
China's heavy reliance on coal burning makes it a world leader in mercury air pollution.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Living routes to toxic routs
Scientists are developing novel techniques for removing perchlorate, a potentially carcinogenic pollutant, from water.
By Janet Raloff -
When autism aids memory
People with autism may often have a superior memory for factual details, possibly because of their inability to use context in remembering information.
By Bruce Bower -
Looking for the brain’s g force
Controversial evidence suggests that a frontal-brain network underlies psychological measures of general intelligence.
By Bruce Bower -
Astronomy
X-ray flare from a dim source
An X-ray flare coming from a old, failed star has surprised astronomers.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
A comet’s chilly origin
Astronomers have detected argon in comet Hale-Bopp, the first time an inert gas has been found in one of these icy bodies and an indication that the comet formed in the frigid outer solar system between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
By Ron Cowen -
Health & Medicine
Molecule may protect against kidney damage
People with a gene for the protein called apoE-IV are less likely to have the dangerous complication of kidney failure after a heart-bypass operation than are people who make other versions of the protein.
By Nathan Seppa -
Materials Science
A new carbon nanotool springs to life
Physicists have pulled out the inside cylinders of multiwall carbon nanotubes, as if expanding a telescope, indicating how the devices may serve as tiny bearings and springs in future nanomachines.
-
Earth
Newfound gas is greenhouse powerhouse
Scientists have detected in the atmosphere for the first time a gas that traps heat more effectively than any other previously found there.
By Sid Perkins -
Astronomy
Telescope finds tiny moon of Jupiter
Astronomers reported the discovery of Jupiter's 17th known moon, the first Jovian moon discovered in 25 years and perhaps the tiniest known satellite of any planet.
By Ron Cowen