News
- Health & Medicine
Surgical Option: Removal of ovaries can prevent cancers in women at risk
In women who harbor mutations in one of the BRCA genes, ovary removal reduces the risk of developing ovarian, peritoneal, and breast cancers.
- Health & Medicine
High elevation linked to hormone dearth
Elderly Peruvian women living at very high altitudes have lower blood concentrations of some key hormones than do their lowland counterparts.
- Math
Prime Effort: Powerful conjecture may be proved
A mathematician may have finally proved Catalan's conjecture, a venerable problem in number theory concerning relationships among powers of whole numbers.
- Physics
Tiny tungsten beams lord over light
By filtering radiated heat, a novel microstructure of crisscrossed tungsten beams promises to improve the efficiency of light bulbs and of heat-to-electricity conversion devices.
- Health & Medicine
Freeing up the mouse genome
Scientists have assembled the DNA sequences from a strain of the common lab mouse and made the draft genome available for free over the Internet.
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Would-be brain boosters need data lift
Research has yet to confirm that the herb Ginkgo biloba and other nonprescription nutrients enhance memory and intellect.
- Astronomy
More evidence for a revved-up universe
By studying the clustering pattern of galaxies, astronomers have obtained additional evidence that cosmic expansion is accelerating.
- Animals
Gator Feelings: Tough faces, more sensitive than ours
Alligator and crocodile faces carry pressure receptors so responsive that they can detect ripples on the water's surface from a single falling drop.
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Anthrax genomes compared for terrorism clues
Investigators seeking clues to last fall's anthrax attack have analyzed the genome of the anthrax bacterium.
- Planetary Science
Hard bodies pair off
About one out of every eight asteroids traveling near Earth has a rocky companion.
- Health & Medicine
D-fending the Colon: Bile component triggers vitamin D receptor
The protein that enables cells to respond to vitamin D also helps the gastrointestinal tract protect itself from an especially dangerous acid in bile.
- Tech
Live Tour: Joystick journeys reveal tumor interiors
A new holographic technique may someday enable doctors to skip certain biopsies and choose instead to take video excursions inside suspicious growths in skin or internal body linings.
