News
- Humans
Doctoral seesaw
Throughout most of the 1990s, the number of doctoral degrees that U.S. universities awarded in science and engineering climbed steadily, to 27,300 in 1998, but by 2001, the number had dropped to 25,500, the lowest number since 1993.
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Feline Finding: Mutations produce black house cats, jaguars
Mutations in two different genes, which lead to black fur in house cats, jaguars, and jaguarundis, may have protected the black felines from an epidemic long ago.
- Health & Medicine
Miscarriages foretell heart trouble
Women who spontaneously lose one or more fetuses during early pregnancy are about 50 percent more likely than other women to later suffer ischemic heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Pregnancy Woe Uncovered: Protein may underlie preeclampsia
New evidence links a placental protein to preeclampsia symptoms and may lead to new ways of detecting and treating the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Portrait of a cancer drug at work
Newly revealed protein structures show how a breast cancer drug functions.
- Health & Medicine
Why beer may deter blood clots
Downing a beer a day alters the structure of fibrinogen, a blood protein active in clotting.
- Archaeology
Grave surprise rises in Jamestown fort
Excavations in the 17th-century fort at Jamestown, Va., have yielded a grave containing the skeleton of a high-ranking male colonist.
- Earth
Ancient Taint: Likely source of old dioxins identified
Lab experiments show that the burning of peat from coastal areas of Scotland could be responsible for the enigmatic concentrations of dioxins sometimes found in pre-20th-century soils.
- Humans
Jonathan Eberhart (1942–2003)
After chronicling space science and exploration for 3 decades on behalf of Science News, Jonathan Eberhart died last week from complications of multiple sclerosis.
- Ecosystems
After Invasions: Can an ant takeover change the rules?
A rare before-and-after study of a takeover by an invasive ant species shows the interloper quickly disassembling the basic rules of the invaded community.
- Health & Medicine
Mixed Results: AIDS vaccine falters in whites, may help blacks
In its first large test, an AIDS vaccine has failed to shield an at-risk population from acquiring AIDS.
- Materials Science
Waterproof Coats: Materials repel water with simplicity, style
Researchers have produced new types of water-repelling surfaces, including one that's colorful and another made of inexpensive plastic.
