News
- Chemistry
Plasticizers kept from leaching out
‘Chemicals of concern’ may be made safer in new materials.
- Space
Lopsided stellar disks help black holes guzzle gas
Theorists have found a new recipe for feeding the supermassive centers of galaxies.
By Ron Cowen - Life
Rise of female weaponry driven by poop fights
Motherly fights for excrement in one species of dung beetle have favored the evolution of a special female horn.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Coffee not linked to heart arrhythmia
A large survey of insured people finds no extra hospitalizations in java swillers.
By Nathan Seppa - Paleontology
Ancient DNA suggests polar bears evolved recently
A study of a rare Norwegian fossil narrows down when polar bears evolved and finds they are closely related to modern-day brown bears in Alaska.
By Sid Perkins - Archaeology
Stone Age engraving traditions appear on ostrich eggshells
Fragments indicate symbolic communication on 60,000-year-old water containers.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Titanic study: It takes time to do the right thing
Comparing the Titanic and Lusitania disasters suggests that people in a crisis are more likely to maintain social norms if they have longer to react.
- Health & Medicine
Hormone may be heart-healthy insulin substitute
A study in mice finds leptin lowers blood sugar without raising cholesterol.
- Humans
Facebook users keep it real in online profiles
College students on Facebook display their real personalities, not reinvented selves, a new study suggests.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Germs in tobacco are potential source of respiratory infections blamed on smoking
Tests find hundreds of bacterial species in major cigarette brands.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Chip of tooth tells radiation dose
A two-milligram dot of tooth enamel serves as a radiation dosimeter.
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