News
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Body’s sweet move can protect heart
Animal studies suggest that the body attempts to protect itself from heart attacks during brief periods of oxygen deprivation by temporarily modifying heart-muscle proteins.
- Health & Medicine
Experimental drug boosts HDL counts
An experimental drug can dramatically increase blood concentrations of high-density lipoprotein, the beneficial cholesterol.
- Earth
Hurricanes churn up life-nurturing brews
Images of the North Atlantic taken from orbit suggest that hurricanes churn the ocean's surface enough to bring cool, nutrient-rich waters to the surface, thereby stimulating algal blooms that can last for weeks.
- Health & Medicine
CT scan no match for colonoscopy
Colonoscopy is better at detecting potentially dangerous colon polyps than computed tomography scanning is.
- Planetary Science
Rovers in overtime
NASA has extended the missions of the twin Mars rovers by 5 months, through September 2004.
- Astronomy
Puzzle on the Edge: The moon that isn’t there
Contrary to predictions, Sedna, the most distant object known in the solar system, does not appear to have a moon.
- Materials Science
Crafty Carriers: Armoring vesicles for more precise and reliable drug delivery
Materials scientists are designing tough, microscopic drug-delivery vesicles that could reach their targets intact and release their cargoes on cue.
- Health & Medicine
Zapping Wayward Cells: Therapy sheds light on transplant complication
Ultraviolet light can curb graft-versus-host disease, a common complication of bone marrow transplants, a study of mice shows.
- Math
Primal Progress: Pattern hunters spy order among prime numbers
The population of prime numbers includes an infinite collection of arithmetic progressions.
- Earth
Lava Life: Hints of microbes in ancient ocean rocks
Microscopic, carbon-lined tubes in lava that erupted onto the ocean floor about 3.5 billion years ago were etched by microbes, a number of signs suggest.
- Physics
Photon Double Whammy: Careening electrons may rev up solar cells
A newfound cue ball effect in nanometer-scale crystals of a semiconductor compound may lead to highly efficient solar cells made from such nanocrystals.
- Earth
Sea Change: Ocean report urges new policies
To combat environmental degradation and encourage sustainable use of resources off the nation's shores, the U.S. government needs to double its investment in marine research, integrate management of coastal and inland ecosystems, restructure agencies that influence the oceans' health and productivity, and take other far-reaching steps, according to a commission created by Congress.
