News
- Earth
A deadly threat in undeployed airbags
The extremely toxic and reactive chemical used to inflate airbags could cause risks to human health and wildlife if accidentally released into the environment.
- Chemistry
The power of caffeine and pale tea
The relatively rare brew known as white tea offers more caffeine than green tea—and perhaps more anticancer activity.
- Health & Medicine
Silencing the BRCA1 gene spells trouble
Some breast cancer patients without a mutation in the BRCA1 gene nevertheless have an incapacitated gene, silenced by a process called hypermethylation of nearby DNA.
- Tech
DNA embrace might drive micromachines
DNA interactions that bend tiny diving boards, or cantilevers, may open the door to powering micromachines by means of molecular reactions.
- Ecosystems
New protection for much-dogged shark
To rebuild northeastern U.S. populations of the spiny dogfish, the first fishing quotas on this species limit the harvest to roughly 10 percent of the 1998 haul.
- Health & Medicine
Lingering legacy of Sept. 11, 2001, on firefighters’ health
Of the New York firefighters involved in the rescue and recovery effort after last year's terrorist attacks, relatively few have developed chronic coughs and respiratory problems, but among those who did, the problems seem unusually severe.
- Astronomy
There’s life in the old galaxies yet
An unexpectedly large number of supermassive black holes in old galaxy clusters suggests these elderly groupings of galaxies aren't as quiescent as had been expected.
- Materials Science
Carbon nanotubes do some bonding
Researchers have welded together carbon nanotubes to make junctions that could be useful in the construction of tiny electronic devices.
- Health & Medicine
Challenges in testing for West Nile virus
The Food and Drug Administration is trying to figure out how blood banks can detect signs of West Nile infection in blood donors and, eventually, test donated blood for the virus itself.
- Anthropology
Iceman mummy shares last meals
DNA analyses of food remains from the intestines of a 5,000-year-old mummified man found in Europe's Tyrolean Alps indicate that his last two meals included meat from mountain goats and red deer, as well as wild cereals.
- Earth
It’s high tide for ice age climate change
Tides may sometimes be strong enough to tug Earth into an ice age.
- Tech
Beads and glue defeat forgers
Researchers have devised a cheap, translucent material that, when embedded in credit cards and other items, would endow the items with unique identifiers that are almost impossible to tamper with or copy.
