News
-
Maternal care may leave brain legacy
Rat experiments indicate that mothers' licking and grooming of offspring induces biological changes in female pups that in turn regulate their maternal behavior as adults.
- Health & Medicine
Epilepsy article wins award
The Epilepsy Foundation honored Science News writer Damaris Christensen with its magazine award for her article "Endgame for Epilepsy?"
- Health & Medicine
Beta-blockade guards burn victims’ muscle
A medication that reduces the risk of heart attack also can diminish a muscle-wasting metabolic response common among victims of severe trauma or illness.
-
Virgin birth infections shift wasp targets
Scientists have found a second bacterial infection that can cause an insect version of virgin births, but this one can affect the host that a wasp attacks.
- Chemistry
Bitter truth about beer comes to a head
Chemists have figured out exactly how beers develop a skunky flavor and smell.
-
Female chimps don’t stray in mate search
Genetic testing of chimpanzees living in western Africa indicates that females usually seek mates within their home communities, a finding that contradicts some previous reports.
-
Gene influences density of the skeleton
The mutated gene responsible for a rare bone disorder has been found.
- Astronomy
Age of the universe: A new determination
Analyzing the faint glow left over from the Big Bang, scientists report measuring the age of the cosmos with unprecedented accuracy—14 billion years, accurate to within half a billion years.
- Health & Medicine
Team locates anthrax-receptor protein
Scientists have identified the protein that enables the anthrax toxin to attach to cells and trigger disease, while another team has mapped the molecular structure of the toxin component that does most of the damage to cells.
- Paleontology
Fossils Indicate. . .Wow, What a Croc!
Newly discovered fossils of an ancient cousin of modern crocodiles suggest that adults of the species may have been dinosaur-munching behemoths that grew to the length of a school bus and weighed as much as 8 metric tons.
- Tech
Brain cells stay in focus as rats roam
So light that it doesn't weigh down a rat's head, a new microscope mounted over a hole in the awake animal's skull promises to open a window into individual neurons as a rat carries out normal activities.
- Tech
Natural micromachines get the points
In custom-made microscopic channels marked with arrows, mobile and thread-like cell structures called microtubules no longer wander aimlessly but slither in a fixed direction—a potential step toward tiny, man-made factories where cellular micromachinery churns out drugs or novel materials.
