News
- Animals
Walking on Water: Tree frog’s foot uses dual method to stick
The tree frog can cling to both wet and dry terrains, despite its permanently lubricated foot.
By Eric Jaffe - Astronomy
Mini Solar Systems? Astronomers find disks around planet-size objects
Disks with the potential to form planets, or at least moons, have been found orbiting objects outside the solar system that themselves are no heftier than planets.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Homegrown Defender: Urinary infections face natural guard
Specialized peptides produced by cells lining the urinary tract stand guard as the first line of defense against bacterial infection.
By Nathan Seppa -
Cooked garlic still kills bacteria
Cooked garlic can kill bacteria, but less efficiently than raw garlic does.
- Health & Medicine
Can supplements nix kidney stones?
The majority of commercially available probiotic supplements don't degrade the compound that forms kidney stones.
- Health & Medicine
Dive suits could spread disease
Divers' wetsuits can harbor bacteria that cause diseases in coral and people.
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Hand gels falter
Alcohol-based gels may not effectively eliminate from people's hands a type of virus that causes millions of cases of diarrhea worldwide each year.
- Health & Medicine
For women, weight gain spells heartburn
A study of more than 10,000 women suggests that weight gain is associated with heartburn.
By Eric Jaffe -
Chimps lead way to HIV birthplace
A viral analysis confirms that the global AIDS epidemic originated in chimpanzees living in southeastern Cameroon.
By Eric Jaffe -
Zits in tubeworms: Part of growing up
Young tubeworms pick up the live-in bacteria they need for nutrition in a rite of passage that starts with a skin infection.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Deep-sea action
Scientists using remotely operated vehicles have reported the first close-up observations of a deep undersea volcano during its eruption.
By Sid Perkins - Physics
String Trio: Novel instrument strums like guitar, rings like bell
A new type of musical instrument, equipped with Y-shaped strings, may be the first of a family of string instruments with unusual overtones typically heard in bells or gongs.
By Peter Weiss