News
- Earth
Tube worms like it hot, but larvae not
The larvae of some tube worms that attach themselves to the seafloor around hydrothermal vents can't stand the heat there, but they go into a state of suspended animation when they drift into the chilly water nearby.
- Earth
Desert glass: Is it baked Australia?
A profusion of fused, glassy material found on the desert plain of southern Australia might be the result of the intense heat from an extraterrestrial impact.
- Health & Medicine
Heart pump extends patients’ survival
Patients who have an implanted device to help the heart pump blood have a higher survival rate than patients getting only heart medication.
- Astronomy
SOHO craft gets the lowdown on sunspots
Using sound waves to obtain the first clear picture of the structure beneath the surface of a sunspot, scientists say they now have an explanation for why these dark blemishes-sites of intense magnetic activity-can persist for days.
- Archaeology
Farmers took fast track in settling Europe
A review of radiocarbon evidence indicates that farming groups colonized southern Europe over no more than 100 to 200 years, beginning around 7,400 years ago.
- Paleontology
New fossils threaten an extinction theory
Recent discoveries of long-dead marine invertebrates call into question the occurrence of a catastrophic global extinction during the Late Devonian period, between 385 and 375 million years ago.
- Animals
She-male garter snakes: Some like it hot
Male garter snakes that emerge from hibernation and attract a mob of deluded male suitors may just be looking for safety in numbers and body heat.
- Physics
The Brazil nut effect gets more jumbled
New and puzzling evidence for why big particles bob to the top when mixtures of granular materials are shaken-the so-called Brazil nut effect-emerges from an experiment showing that even the air between grains plays a role.
- Earth
Sediments Sink River’s Flow into Sea
Deep-sea observations of occasional sediment-rich plumes of fresh water dumped into the ocean by rivers suggest that such underflows may be a prime conveyor of pesticides, organic carbon, and various nutrients to the seafloor.
- Health & Medicine
Cholesterol enables nerve cells to connect
Neurons form connections with each other using cholesterol supplied by other brain cells called glia.
- Earth
EPA switchback on arsenic
On Oct. 31, the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded its March decision to rescind a proposed tougher limit on arsenic in drinking water and is now planning to implement the tougher limit of 10 parts per billion in 2006.
- Earth
Cancer risk linked to night shifts
Women who work the graveyard shift increase their chance of developing breast cancer, perhaps because of chronic suppression of melatonin.
