News
- Life
Good gene type for cancer bad for stroke
A DNA variant that helps prevent tumors may diminish the brain’s recovery after an interruption in blood supply.
- Space
Sun’s doldrums likely to last
Despite a recent flare, solar physicists project low activity for up to a decade.
By Ron Cowen - Life
Hagfish may eat through their skin
The odd dining habits of carrion-eating protovertebrates may be relevant to the evolutionary transition to land.
By Susan Milius - Humans
Smelling a rat in a bag of chips
A forensic scientist shares tales from a very special victims unit.
- Health & Medicine
Half of adult males carry HPV
Human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted pathogen that can cause cancer, shows up often in men and lingers for months, a study shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Earth
PCBs may impair fertility
A study of women undergoing in vitro fertilization finds reduced embryo implantation among women with higher levels of one type of the banned chemicals.
By Janet Raloff - Chemistry
Diamond cousin proposed
Researchers predict a new form of carbon that could, if made, have industrial uses.
By Devin Powell - Health & Medicine
How brains guesstimate
Experiments show how the human mind lowballs moving objects’ speed when information is lacking.
- Psychology
Club drug tied to out-of-body sensations
A Canadian survey finds a close link between ketamine and bizarre physical experiences.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Lab-engineered organism fights malaria
A new breed of poison-secreting fungi can kill parasites in a mosquito.
- Humans
U.S. probably began global fire ant spread
A genetic study shows that recent international invasions likely originated in the U.S. South, not the species’ native South American range.
By Susan Milius - Chemistry
Mad cow-type diseases lie in wait
Prion infections build quickly in the brain then pause before killing, new research suggests.