News
- Physics
Magnets, not magic, make gas bulbs bad
Once as baffling as black magic, the random failures of glass bulbs used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) now appear to stem from unexpected magnetization of the glass.
- Physics
Path to new elements now looks steeper
Making novel, superheavy elements is harder than was previously expected, according to a new experiment, but the findings may also help physicists better choose which atoms to smash into which.
- Tech
Microjaws chomp cells to change them
A tiny, new biomedical device operates on such a small scale that it can grab individual red blood corpuscles in its jaws.
- Tech
Nervy chip may open window into brain
Researchers have built a simple circuit that blends living neurons with silicon-based transistors.
- Health & Medicine
Oceans apart, but surgery succeeds
A French group performed the first transatlantic operation when surgeons in New York controlled a robot in Strasbourg, France, which removed a woman's gall bladder.
- Health & Medicine
For a change, infection stymies HIV
A hepatitis-like virus that causes no known diseases seems to help people stave off the progression of HIV, the AIDS virus.
- Earth
Rain of foreign dust fuels red tides
Soil particles from Africa, raining out from clouds over the Americas, may trigger the first steps that lead to toxic red-tide algal blooms off Florida.
- Earth
EU moves against flame retardants
The European Union has provisionally voted to ban the use and importation of nearly all members of a family of flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers.
- Earth
Where’s the smoke from the N.Y. fires?
Analyses of smoke from the destroyed World Trade Center towers indicated little risk that the fires would cause significant health effects for cleanup crews and city residents.
- Anthropology
Humans in eastern Asia show ancient roots
Human ancestors lived in northeastern Asia about 1.36 million years ago, making it the oldest confirmed occupation site in eastern Asia.
- Health & Medicine
Acacia-tree extract fights cancer in mice
Compounds called avicins extracted from Acacia victoriae, an Australian desert tree, inhibit inflammation and cancer in test-tube and mouse studies.
- Health & Medicine
Germs can survive weeks on fabrics, plastic
Soft, dry surfaces in hospitals can harbor live germs for more than a month.
