News
- Paleontology
Older Ancestors: Primate origins age in new analysis
A controversial new statistical model concludes that the common ancestor of primates lived 81.5 million years ago, about 16 million years earlier than many paleontologists have estimated.
- Earth
Feminized Frogs: Herbicide disrupts sexual growth
At concentrations currently found in water, the widely used weed killer atrazine hormonally strips male frogs of their masculinity and may be partly responsible for global amphibian declines.
- Health & Medicine
Drug for dry mouth may prevent lung cancer
A drug prescribed for a condition called dry mouth stymies formation of precancerous lung lesions in cigarette smokers.
- Health & Medicine
Gene mutation tied to lung cancer
Scientists have identified a gene, dubbed LKB1/STK11, that is often mutated in people with a particularly deadly form of lung cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Compound attacks pancreatic cancer
A protein fragment dubbed NK4 can stall the development of pancreatic cancer in mice.
- Health & Medicine
St. John’s wort hinders cancer drug
The herbal remedy St. John's wort can interfere with the effectiveness of the anticancer drug irinotecan.
- Health & Medicine
Antibiotics don’t seem to protect heart
Two large studies find little evidence that antibiotics can protect some people with cardiovascular disease against subsequent heart attacks.
- Animals
Maneless lions live one guy per pride
The male lions of Tsavo National Park don't grow manes but they're no wimps—they're the only male lions found so far that rule big prides of females alone, without help from some buddies.
- Health & Medicine
Folate cuts family risk of colon cancer
According to a 16-year study of nearly 90,000 women, the vitamin folate has a protective effect against colon cancer among women whose families have been affected by the disease.
- Earth
Motion of ice across Lake Vostok revealed
New measurements of the movement of the Antarctic ice sheet across a lake that harbors microbial life beneath 4 kilometers of ice could help scientists determine where to drill to get the freshest samples of frozen water without contaminating the lake.
- Ecosystems
Climate Upsets: Big model predicts many new neighbors
The biggest effects of climate change during the next 50 years may not be extinctions but major reshuffling of the species in local communities.
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Globin Family Grows: Blood-protein relative is in all tissues
Researchers discovered a relative of the blood protein hemoglobin in all the body's tissues.
