News
- Earth
Shuttle yields detailed, 3-D atlas
NASA scientists and Defense Department mapmakers are assembling billions of radar measurements made from the space shuttle Endeavour to produce what they say will be the world’s best topographic map.
- Paleontology
Dinosaur tracks show walking and running
A single trail of dinosaur footprints found in a British limestone quarry preserves a record of two different walking styles in the same animal, a tantalizing clue that some types of lumbering, bipedal dinosaurs could also run if the need arose.
- Planetary Science
Galileo at Jupiter: The goodbye tour
After more than 6 years spent touring Jupiter and its four largest moons, the Galileo spacecraft’s mission is beginning to wind down.
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Infants emerge as picky imitators
By the age of 14 months, babies display a feel for evaluating the sensibility of an adult's behavior and either imitating the means to a goal or opting for a simpler way to achieve the same result.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s vaccine trial is suspended
A drug company in Ireland has halted tests of an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.
- Tech
Itsy chain turns bitsy gears
A tiny chain with links the size of biological cells offers a new way to deliver power to micromachines.
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Disorder Decline: U.S. mental ills take controversial dip
Far fewer people suffer from mental disorders requiring treatment than was initially indicated by two national surveys.
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Cool Discovery: Menthol triggers cold-sensing protein
A cell-surface protein that lets ions flow into cells responds to menthol and cool temperatures.
- Astronomy
X-Ray Universe: Quasar’s jet goes the distance
Collisions with photons left over from the birth of the universe appear to have generated the longest X ray-emitting jet ever found in a distant galaxy.
- Health & Medicine
Vitamin Void: Heart disease may lurk in B12 deficiency
Meatless eating typically improves cardiovascular health, but a dietary shortage of vitamin B12 may lead to an overabundance of the amino acid homocysteine in some vegetarians, which could pose a risk to their hearts.
- Ecosystems
Biodiversity Hot Spots: Top 10 sea locales make sobering list
Biologists have identified the world's most vulnerable coral reefs, each with organisms found nowhere else and threatened by human influence.
- Health & Medicine
Antibody Warfare: Vaccine halts microbes in dialysis patients
A vaccine protects many kidney-dialysis patients from blood infection caused by the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium.
