News
- Ecosystems
Lab ecosystems show signs of evolving
An ambitious test of group selection considers whether natural selection can act on whole ecosystems as evolutionary units.
- Paleontology
Was it sudden death for the Permian period?
The massive extinctions that came at the end of the Permian period could have occurred within a mere 8,000 years, which suggests a catastrophic cause for the die-offs.
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Possible Alzheimer’s vaccine seems safe
A vaccine intended to slow or prevent the devastation of Alzheimer's disease appears promising, according to preliminary tests in people.
- Tech
Technique boosts data rate in light pipes
Turning a liability into an asset, a new technique for passing information through optical fibers increases the data flow by exploiting the very trait that has long held that flow back.
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Mental ills attract alternative therapies
A substantial minority of people suffering from mental ailments seek out alternative treatments, such as herbal medicines and nutritional regimens, usually without telling their physicians.
- Materials Science
Ancient seal technology shows its age
Modern technologies reveal than an ancient method of engraving tough quartz in Mesopotamia was adopted some 1,500 years later than scholars had thought.
- Health & Medicine
Cultured cells reverse some eye damage
Transplants using bioengineered corneal stem cells grown on an amniotic membrane can vastly improve vision in people who are nearly blind because of damaged corneas.
- Ecosystems
Ultimate Sea Weed Loose in America
The unusually invasive strain of seaweed that has been smothering coastal areas of the Mediterranean has shown up in a California lagoon, the first sighting of this ecologically devastating alga in the Americas.
- Health & Medicine
Carbon monoxide may limit vascular damage
Carbon monoxide given in small doses to rats can prevent injury to blood vessels caused by surgery.
- Archaeology
Farming sprouted in ancient Ecuador
Analyses of microscopic plant remains from two archaeological sites indicate that people began to grow squash in Ecuador's lowlands between 10,000 and 9,000 years ago, when agriculture was also taking root in Mexico.
- Health & Medicine
Being a dad comes naturally
Men whose wives are about to give birth show hormonal fluctuations that may predispose them to better parenting behavior.
- Health & Medicine
Heart risks linked to infertility syndrome
Women with polycystic ovaries—commonly linked to infertility—are more likely than women without the disease to show early signs of heart disease.
