News
- Earth
Amazon forest could disappear, soon
A new model that includes a forest's effect on regional climate shows that the Amazon rainforest could disappear in the next three decades, much more rapidly than previously expected.
- Chemistry
Wee dots yield rainbow of molecule markers
Chemists report a scheme for creating a versatile color-based tagging system out of tiny atomic clusters, called quantum dots, that may enable scientists to track biomolecules with more finesse than ever.
- Archaeology
Stone Age folk in Asia adapted to extremes
Preliminary evidence indicates that people occupied the harsh, high-altitude environment of Asia's Tibetan Plateau in the late Stone Age, between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago.
- Humans
Physicist steps up to be science adviser
President Bush has announced that he intends to nominate John Marburger, the head of Brookhaven National Laboratory, as his science advisor.
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Tree pollen exploits surrogate mothers
An Algerian cypress releases pollen that can develop without fertilization, using another tree species' female organs instead of a mate's.
- Health & Medicine
Nicotine spurs vessel growth, maybe cancer
Test-tube and mouse experiments show that nicotine induces angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels.
- Astronomy
Andromeda feasts on its satellite galaxies
A new study reveals that the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, is a cannibal, devouring its tiny galactic neighbors.
- Earth
Is Nessie merely a bad case of the shakes?
An Italian scientist makes the controversial suggestion that the original source of the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, as well as blame for many of the modern encounters with the supposed beast, may be seismic activity beneath the lake.
- Health & Medicine
Have a heart: Turn on just a single gene
One gene appears to act as the master switch in embryonic heart formation.
- Earth
Landfills Make Mercury More Toxic
Landfill disposal of mercury-containing products can chemically transform the pollutant not only to make it more potent but also to foster its release into air.
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Textbooks brace for nuclear challenge
New data threaten to shake up 30 years of scientific dogma regarding how a cell carries out one of its most basic tasks: the translation of the genetic code into proteins.
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Killer yeast win epic battle of toxins
Researchers have discovered the molecular mechanism that keeps a yeast cell programed by a virus to spew a toxin that kills neighboring yeast cells from killing itself.
