News

  1. Humans

    Racial IQ Gap Narrows: Blacks gain 4 to 7 points on whites

    African Americans reduced the racial gap on IQ-test scores by about one-third between 1972 and 2002.

    By Eric Jaffe
  2. Earth

    Stung Lung: Volatile chemical may cut respiratory capacity

    Para-dichlorobenzene, a chemical in some air fresheners and pest-control products, may slightly impair lung function in millions of people.

    By Ben Harder
  3. Tech

    Microbial Mug Shots: Telltale patterns finger bad bacteria

    A sophisticated pattern-recognition technique that borrows from automated face recognition may permit identification of harmful bacteria faster and more cheaply than conventional methods do.

    By Peter Weiss
  4. Earth

    Northern Refuge: White spruce survived last ice age in Alaska

    Genetic analyses of white spruce trees at sites across North America suggest that some stands of that species endured the harsh climate of Alaska throughout the last ice age.