News
- Chemistry
Gene dispensers
A new gene therapy technique releases genetic material from successive nanoscale layers of DNA as sheets of polyester that hold them in place slowly degrade.
- Materials Science
Color-tunable sunglasses
Engineers have developed sunglasses that can change from dark, filtering hues to clear—and back—at the flip of a switch.
- Health & Medicine
New agent to spy clogged arteries
To improve the detection of harmful arterial plaques, researchers have modeled a nanoparticle on a natural material: good cholesterol.
- Chemistry
Enzymes release caged chemicals
A new controlled-release technology relies on enzymes to unshackle a chemical only when and where it's needed.
- Health & Medicine
Even outdoors, generators pose risks
Portable electricity generators are frequently the culprit in domestic carbon monoxide poisonings—even when the devices sit outside the home.
-
Rats take fast route to remembering
Rats use background knowledge about what they have already learned to remember relevant new material surprisingly quickly.
- Health & Medicine
Augmenting the good cholesterol
A reconstituted version of good cholesterol may lessen the amount of plaque that accumulates in arteries and render existing plaque less dangerous.
- Planetary Science
Cavernous findings from Mars
Images taken by a Mars-orbiting spacecraft show what appear to be caves on the Red Planet.
- Planetary Science
No Escape: There’s global warming on Mars too
The overall darkening of Mars' surface in recent decades has significantly raised the Red Planet's temperature, a possible cause for the substantial, recent shrinkage of the planet's southern ice cap.
- Health & Medicine
Drug-Resistant Flu Detected: Japanese strains appear transmissible
For the first time, researchers report drug resistance in type B influenza virus and say the drug-resistant strain may jump from person to person.
- Health & Medicine
Not-So-Artful Dodgers: Countering drug tests with niacin proves dangerous
Attempts to cleanse illicit drugs from one's body by taking large doses of niacin can cause life-threatening reactions.
- Physics
Formula for Panic: Crowd-motion findings may prevent stampedes
The physics of pedestrian flows could help prevent stampedes such as the one that killed hundreds during a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2006.
