News
- Humans
Named medical trials garner extra attention
Naming a medical trial with an acronym increases the frequency with which other researchers subsequently cite the study.
By Ben Harder - Chemistry
Follow the lead
A new water-soluble, lead-sensing chemical is the first to detect the toxic metal in live cells.
- Archaeology
Ancient rains made Sahara livable
New evidence indicates that seasonal rainfall more than 7,000 years ago turned Africa's eastern Sahara desert into a savannalike area that attracted an influx of foraging groups.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Freeing Up the Flow: Clearing neck-artery blockage diminishes signs of depression in elderly
Propping open a clogged carotid artery may ease symptoms of depression in elderly people.
By Nathan Seppa -
Old Mice and Men: Species share genetic markers of aging
The amounts of protein produced by a particular set of genes could give researchers clues to how much a person or another animal has aged.
- Planetary Science
Jovian storms of surpassing beauty
A new near-infrared image of two giant, oval storms in Jupiter's southern hemisphere reveals that they are now brushing past each other closely, separated by only 3,000 kilometers.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Side Effect Revealed: Heart risk found in leukemia drug
The remarkably successful cancer drug imatinib might cause heart failure in some patients.
By Eric Jaffe - Materials Science
Solid Information: Chemical composition can determine concrete’s durability
A new analysis reveals how damage progresses in concrete that's exposed to sulfate.
- Computing
Hairy Calculations: Picturing tresses in a truer light
Hard-to-simulate blond hair may look more natural in future animations thanks to a new computer model that allows for hairs' transparency and includes the illumination produced by light propagating from hair to hair.
By Peter Weiss - Animals
Babbling Bats: Do pups talk baby talk as human infants do?
Young sac-winged bats make long strings of adultlike noises and could be the first animals besides some primates and birds that babble when they're babies.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Breaking Crust: Sonar finds new kind of deep-sea volcano
Undersea explorations more than 600 kilometers east of Japan have discovered evidence of a previously unknown type of volcanism.
By Sid Perkins - Astronomy
Double disks
Astronomers have confirmed that the nearby star Beta Pictoris has two disks of dust orbiting it, each of which is generated by debris likely to be left over from planet formation.
By Ron Cowen