News
- Earth
Nations sign on to persistent-pollutants ban
The United States joined 126 other nations in signing a treaty to ban or phase out a dozen persistent and toxic pollutants.
- Ecosystems
Parrot survey finds poaching but also hope
The largest review yet of wild parrot nesting finds poaching worrisomely frequent but also sees cause for hope in the efects of a U.S. protection law.
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Teens’ ADHD treatment gets low-dose boost
Teenagers diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder may reap substantial academic benefits from treatment that combines behavioral training with low doses of stimulant medication.
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Gene variations police the storage of fat
Researchers have uncovered genetic variations controlling a calorie-draining spigot in the body.
- Earth
Salmon hatcheries can deplete wild stocks
Hatchery fish appear to be replacing wild salmon populations in the Columbia River.
- Planetary Science
Asteroid Eros poses a magnetic puzzle
Measurements with a magnetometer aboard the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft a few days after it landed on the asteroid 433 Eros confirmed a major puzzle: The rock has no detectable magnetic field.
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Insects deploy sticky feet with precision
Sticky ant and bee footpads retract and unfold in time with insect steps, so the insects don't trip over their own sticky feet.
- Health & Medicine
Does breast-feeding accelerate AIDS?
A study of HIV-infected mothers in Kenya suggests that breast-feeding places them at a health risk.
- Chemistry
Molecular Chemistry Takes a New Twist
New calculations show that a basic tenet of chemistry is wrong: Ethane forms its most stable structure not due to so-called steric effects, but because of a quantum mechanical influence.
- Physics
Stretching and twisting a bright idea
A new, stretchy type of liquid-crystal component makes it possible to change a laser's color by simply pulling on the membrane—a much easier, cheaper means of adjustment than that used for today's complex and expensive tunable lasers.
- Physics
In a squeeze, nitrogen gets chunky
Remarkable already for being a semiconductor and, perhaps, an explosive, a new, solid form of nitrogen made by crushing the ordinary gas to the highest pressures ever also stands out because it continues to survive when the pressure is released.
- Physics
Electrons trip on tiny semiconductor steps
A first glimpse of how a semiconductor's surface alters electrons' magnetic fields, or spins, suggests that tiny steps in the surfaces are tripping up efforts to create so-called spintronics circuits from semiconductors.
