News
- Anthropology
Sail Away: Tools reveal extent of ancient Polynesian trips
Rock from Hawaii was fashioned into a stone tool found in Polynesian islands more than 4,000 kilometers to the south, indicating that canoeists made the sea journey around 1,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Lack of Evidence: Vaccine additive not linked to developmental problems
Thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative, shows no signs of causing memory, attention or other problems in children.
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Bugs in Space: Genes explain why salmonella grow deadlier when freed from Earth’s gravity
Bacteria that flew on a space shuttle became deadlier than their earthbound counterparts.
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Double Trouble: Tumors have two-pronged defense
By depleting an essential amino acid and releasing a toxin, cancer cells can ward off attack by the immune system.
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Jungle Down There: What’s a kelp forest doing in the tropics?
Kelp, algae that grow in cold water, turn out to be surprisingly widespread in tropical seas.
- Health & Medicine
Keep Out: Treated mosquito nets limit child deaths
Mosquito nets treated with insecticides decrease death rates among children in Kenya's malarial zones.
- Paleontology
Unexpected Archive: Mammoth hair yields ancient DNA
Hair from ancient mammoths contains enough genetic material to permit reconstruction of parts of the animal's genome.
- Health & Medicine
Distracted? Tea might help your focus
An amino acid in tea combines with the brew's caffeine to enliven brain cells that aid concentration.
- Health & Medicine
Tea compound aids dying brain cells
A constituent of green tea rescues brain cells damaged in a way that mimics the effect of Parkinson's disease.
- Health & Medicine
Malaria’s sweet spot
The malaria parasite's reliance on a sugar in the gut of mosquitoes may offer a way to block the disease's transmission.
- Astronomy
Out-of-focus find
Blurry images yield estimates of the true width of glowing meteor vapor trails in Earth's upper atmosphere.
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