News
- Physics
Run-of-the-mill compound becomes superstar
The discovery that simple, common magnesium diboride can conduct electric current without resistance and does so at a surprisingly high temperature has sent physicists racing to understand its properties and to try to improve upon them.
By Peter Weiss -
Some police see through killer’s lies
For the first time, a person's ability to size up a highly motivated liar has been assessed in a study of police officers viewing videotaped interviews of a murder suspect.
By Bruce Bower - Planetary Science
Images suggest icy eruptions on Ganymede
New stereo images of Ganymede, the solar system's largest satellite, suggest that eruptions of water or slushy ice a billion or more years ago gave parts of the moon a facelift, creating long, flat bands of nearly pure water-ice.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Vaccine may prevent some cervical cancers
A new vaccine spurs people to produce a strong immune response against human papillomavirus, a virus that can infect both men and women and causes cervical cancer in women.
By Nathan Seppa - Ecosystems
Fish Epidemic Traces to Novel Germ
A new mycobacterium, related to the one causing tuberculosis, is responsible for a mysterious epidemic sickening some of the Chesapeake Bay's most prized fish.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
AIDS-treatment guidelines revised
A panel of scientists has changed the guidelines for prescribing medication for HIV-infected patients, considerably lowering the suggested T-cell-count and HIV-copy thresholds.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
AIDS drug performs well in early test
A new drug called T-1249, which keeps the AIDS virus from fusing with immune cells, proves largely safe in people.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Some HIV patients getting transplants
Organ transplants succeed in some HIV-infected people, spurring further research into this practice.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Anti-HIV mutation poses hepatitis risk
A genetic mutation that protects people from AIDS may also make them susceptible to hepatitis C.
By Nathan Seppa - Physics
Lasers nudge into nuclear medicine
Using a tabletop laser, researchers produced a medically useful isotope usually made in warehouse-size particle accelerators called cyclotrons.
By Peter Weiss - Physics
Muffled shots tell a lot about snow
A snowfield muffles gunshots in a way that can now be used to reveal important traits of the snow.
By Peter Weiss - Astronomy
Cassini at Jupiter: Eyeing the Io torus
The Cassini spacecraft has captured the most detailed images ever taken of the Io torus, a doughnut-shaped ring of charged particles that surrounds Jupiter and is replenished by the planet's moon Io.
By Ron Cowen