News

  1. Health & Medicine

    Another Polio? Alarming West Nile fever risks emerge

    Medical workers have found poliolike symptoms in a few victims of West Nile fever, and federal officials noted that blood transfusions appear to have infected some people.

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  2. Plants

    Underground Hijinks: Thieving plants hack into biggest fungal network

    For the first time, plants have been caught tapping into the most widespread of soil fungi networks and using it to steal food from green plants.

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  3. Materials Science

    Bigger, Cheaper, Safer Batteries: New material charges up lithium-ion battery work

    A new material could make rechargeable lithium-ion batteries smaller, cheaper, and safer.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    New Drugs Beat Old Flu: Antiviral agents counter deadly 1918 influenza

    After partially recreating a deadly influenza virus that swept the globe from 1918 to 1919 and killed millions of people, researchers have shown that available flu drugs could probably prevent a new pandemic of the 1918 influenza strain or a similar flu.

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  5. Psychotic Biology: Genes yield clues to schizophrenia’s roots

    Two genes involved in the transmission of glutamate, a key chemical messenger in the brain, are linked to the occurrence of the severe mental disorder schizophrenia.

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  6. Astronomy

    Big Bang Confirmed: Seeing twists and turns of primordial light

    The latest observations of the cosmic microwave background reveal that photons from adjacent patches of the sky have slightly different polarizations.

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  7. Chemistry

    Toxin in absinthe makes neurons run wild

    The alpha-thujone in absinthe—Vincent Van Gogh's favorite drink—blocks brain receptors for a natural inhibitor of nerve impulses, causing brain cells to fire uncontrollably.

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  8. Paleontology

    Salvaged DNA adds to Neandertals’ mystique

    Researchers who isolated a sample of Neandertal mitochondrial DNA say that it provides no evidence that Neandertals contributed to modern human evolution.

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  9. Earth

    More Waters Test Positive for Drugs

    Traces of drugs, excreted by people and livestock, pollute surface and ground waters in the United States, as had already been confirmed in Europe.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Immune gene linked to prostate cancer

    An immune-cell gene plays a role in predisposing men to prostate cancer.

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  11. Astronomy

    Found: Gamma-ray background information

    Resolving a 30-year-old mystery, astronomers say they have identified the source of the faint, high-energy glow of radiation known as the gamma-ray background.

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  12. Earth

    Much that glitters is really old

    New isotopic analyses of rock samples from one of the world's richest gold-mining regions suggest that the flecks of gold in those ores are more than 3 billion years old.

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