News
- Astronomy
Supernova dealt deaths on Earth? Stellar blasts may have killed ancient marine life
The explosion of nearby supernova may have caused the widespread extinction of marine life on Earth 2 million years ago.
- Chemistry
Viral parts: Chemists convert virus into nanoscale tool
Researchers are decorating viruses with a variety of molecules, making the microbes into potential building blocks in electronic circuits and new materials, as well as tools in biomedical therapies.
- Health & Medicine
Ominous signals: Genes may identify the worst breast cancers
By using a technology that reveals patterns of gene activity in tumor cells, researchers can detect breast cancers that are likely to spread and become deadly.
- Health & Medicine
Drink and thrive: Moderate alcohol use reduces dementia risk
Alcohol appears to reduce aging drinkers' risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other forms of age-related dementia.
- Ecosystems
Genetic lynx: North American lynx make one huge family
A new study of lynx in North America suggests the animals interbreed widely, sometimes with populations thousands of kilometers away.
- Astronomy
Some new stars in the neighborhood
As part of an ongoing survey of faint stars in the southern skies, astronomers have discovered 12 previously unknown stars that lie within a mere 33 light-years of Earth.
- Earth
Biotech-crop laws were big in 2001
Twenty-two state legislatures passed bills in 2001 addressing agricultural biotechnology, which concerns the development of genetically modified crops.
- Physics
Balloon bursts give clue to fast cracks
A casual observation about the edges of popped balloons may have led researchers to previously unknown features of the most common and least understood types of fractures.
- Astronomy
Seeing green: Color of the cosmos
We live in a pale-green universe, according to astronomers who analyzed the colors of some 200,000 galaxies as part of the largest galaxy survey completed to date.
- Astronomy
Are pictures of extrasolar planets in the offing?
The first image of a planet orbiting a star other than the sun may be only a year away.
- Materials Science
Metallic materials made to order
A new process for creating specifically patterned, three-dimensional microstructures could lead to new catalysts or optoelectronic devices.
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Nerve cells ring in the Winter Olympics
Scientists in Utah have sculpted living nerve cells into a microscopic version of the interlocking rings that symbolize the Olympic games.
