News
- Humans
Clinical trials really pay off
Large-scale human trials of new treatments in medicine have the potential to offer huge economic benefits from improved quality of life.
By Janet Raloff - Physics
Confined gas rejects compromise
Pairs of tiny gas clouds of unequal energies mixing inside narrow tubes retain their original energy differences.
By Peter Weiss - Animals
Just turn your back, Mom
A female in a species of legless amphibians called caecilians nourishes her youngsters by letting them eat the skin off her back.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Liver regeneration tied to bile acids
Bile, a digestive juice, plays an integral role in the regeneration of liver tissue.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Two drugs are equal in preventing breast cancer
A commonly prescribed anti-osteoporosis drug works as well at preventing breast cancer as the sole drug currently prescribed for the task.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Study finds bias in peer review
Researchers have found evidence of bias when scientists review data and the researcher's name and affiliation are available to the reviewers.
By Janet Raloff - Animals
Bird hormone cuts noise distractions
A jolt of springtime hormones makes a female sparrow's brain more responsive to song.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Small Wonder: Taking the bite out of anthrax toxin
Using a submicroscopic synthetic blob called a liposome, scientists have neutralized anthrax toxin in rats.
By Nathan Seppa - Animals
Grammar’s for the Birds: Human-only language rule? Tell starlings
A grammatical pattern called recursion, once proposed as unique to human language, turns out to fall within the learning abilities of starlings.
By Susan Milius - Astronomy
Energy-Saving Space Engines: Black holes can be green
Some seemingly quiet black holes are actually efficient engines that emit jets of high-energy particles.
- Earth
Brain Delay: Air pollutants linked to slow childhood mental development
Pollutants spewing from vehicles and power plants may be harmful to fetal brains.
By Ben Harder -
Nixing Malaria: DNA segment provides parasite resistance
A section of the mosquito genome appears to give the insects a natural resistance to malaria.