News
- Earth
Virtual seismometer
A new supercomputer simulation of the large quake that struck central China earlier this month could help researchers estimate the size of the ground motions experienced in areas that didn’t have seismic instruments.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Death downwind
Pollutants generated by human activity in Europe significantly boost ozone concentrations downwind, harming people’s health and causing thousands of premature deaths in North Africa, the Near East and the Middle East.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
High doses
Emergency room patients are exposed to high doses of radiation from CT scans and other nuclear medicine.
By Tia Ghose - Life
Tracing human roots
Using a new method of data analysis, researchers have found that the Americas were peopled in two different migrations.
By Tia Ghose - Climate
Already feeling the heat
Long-delayed U.S. government summary of climate change science sees effects on energy, transportation, farming, and water.
By Susan Milius - Planetary Science
Rarin’ to go
After a day’s delay, the robotic arm on the Mars Phoenix Lander is free of its shackles and is preparing to dig for ice.
By Ron Cowen - Archaeology
Domain of the dead
Researchers say that Stonehenge functioned as the largest cemetery of its time.
By Bruce Bower - Archaeology
Footprints in the ash
Humans may have been walking around what is now central Mexico 40,000 years ago.
By Sid Perkins - Animals
Not so prudish after all
Unsuspected genetic diversity found in asexual animals.
By Amy Maxmen - Health & Medicine
Reading minds … or at least brain scans
By analyzing brain activity, computers can tell what word is on your mind.
By Tia Ghose - Planetary Science
More than a pinch
Water believed to flow on the Red Planet would have been too salty to foster life, scientists suggest.
- Health & Medicine
Monkey think, robotic monkey arm do
In a step toward someday making brain-controlled prosthetic arms for people, scientists have trained monkeys to control a robotic arm with their thoughts. Click on the image to read the story and see the video.