News
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Wayward Moods: Bipolar kids travel tough road to teenhood
Children diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a psychiatric ailment characterized by severe mood swings, exhibit a depressingly poor response to standard drug treatments and psychotherapy.
By Bruce Bower -
Planetary ScienceOdyssey’s Homer: Hints of water near both poles of Mars
Sensors on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft have spied strong signs of ice buried near both poles of the Red Planet, exactly the regions where scientists previously had said that such frozen water deposits could exist.
By Sid Perkins -
Health & MedicineDieting woes tied to hunger hormone
A rise in the appetite-enhancing hormone ghrelin after weight loss may explain why dieters regain pounds.
By John Travis -
Health & MedicineArthritis drug fights Crohn’s disease
The inflammation-fighting drug infliximab can hold off the painful symptoms of Crohn's disease for as long as a year in many patients.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineLearning from leprosy’s nerve damage
The bacterium that causes leprosy directly damages a protective sheathing around many nerve cells.
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EnvironmentOld thermometers pose new problems
Though health groups advocate getting mercury thermometers out of the home, obtaining sound advice on how to dispose of the thermometers can be problematic.
By Janet Raloff -
EarthMost oil enters sea from nonaccidents
Nearly all of the oil entering the marine environment traces not to accidents but to natural seeps and human activities where releases are intentional.
By Janet Raloff -
EarthMapping the Frozen Sky: Study looks at clouds from both sides now
By combining simultaneous observations from satellites and ground-based instruments, scientists can generate a three-dimensional map of the size and distribution of ice particles in a cirrus cloud.
By Sid Perkins -
Snooze Power: Midday nap may awaken learning potential
A brief daytime nap may block or even reverse learning declines that occur during extended practice of a perceptual task.
By Bruce Bower -
PhysicsLoud Loop: New explanation of whip-snapping unfurls
The wake of a loop zooming along a whip may silence the faster-moving tip so the loop actually causes the whip's loud bang.
By Peter Weiss -
Health & MedicineEat Broccoli, Beat Bacteria: Plant compound kills microbe behind ulcers and a cancer
A chemical abundant in broccoli and certain other vegetables kills ulcer-causing Helicobacter pylori bacteria in the laboratory and inhibits stomach cancer in mice.
By Ben Harder -
AnimalsSniff . . . Pow! Wasps use chemicals to start ant brawls
Wasps sneak around in ant colonies thanks to chemicals that send the ants into a distracting frenzy of fighting among themselves.
By Susan Milius