News
- Health & Medicine
Learning from leprosy’s nerve damage
The bacterium that causes leprosy directly damages a protective sheathing around many nerve cells.
- Environment
Old 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.
- Earth
Most 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.
- Earth
Mapping 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.
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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.
- Physics
Loud 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.
- Health & Medicine
Eat 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.
- Animals
Sniff . . . 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.
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Mussel Muzzled: Bacterial toxin may control pest
A toxin made by bacteria could help stop the spread of zebra mussels.
- Health & Medicine
Revised Immunity: Drug slows diabetes in young patients
A drug fashioned from a mouse antibody has halted the progression of diabetes in children and young adults who are newly diagnosed with the disease.
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Med use widens in kids with ADHD
Data from a medical center in Washington state indicate that a substantial minority of children who have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder receive prescriptions not only for stimulants but also for additional psychoactive drugs intended to treat other mental conditions.
- Animals
Walking sticks mimic two leafy looks and split their species
A species of walking stick may be evolving into two species by adapting to different environments.
