News

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. Earth

    Moderate flows help carve rivers

    Measurements of erosion in a rocky river channel in Taiwan suggest that the day-to-day flow of water accounts for more rock wear there than occasional catastrophic floods do.

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  5. Gene found for big, firm sheep rumps

    Scientists have found the gene that gives sheep unusually big, muscular bottoms.

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  6. Tech

    Coal: The cool fuel for future jets

    To power faster supersonic jets, scientists are developing coal-derived fuels that can absorb heat without breaking down at high temperatures.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Are varsity athletes prone to ALS?

    A survey of patients treated for neurological problems reveals that those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) are more likely to have been varsity athletes and remained slim all their lives.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Surgery beats splints for wrist syndrome

    Surgery proves better than nighttime splints for relieving the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome.

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  9. Tech

    Liquid Logic: Tiny plumbing networks concoct and compute

    By incorporating thousands of simple valves into microscopic networks of rubbery pipes and chambers, scientists have created fluid-manipulating microchips of unprecedented power.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Sideways Glance: Training helps people circumvent failing sight

    Researchers have developed a rehabilitation regime that may enable many elderly people with age-related macular degeneration to improve their vision.

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  11. 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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  12. 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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