News
- Astronomy
Belt Tightening: Icy orbs are surprisingly small
Objects in the distant reservoir of comets known as the Kuiper belt are intrinsically much brighter, and therefore smaller, than previously thought.
- Health & Medicine
Lingering Loss: In 2-year diet trial, new pill keeps off weight
Obese adults who lose weight during a year of taking an experimental diet drug, rimonabant, and dieting keep the weight off during the following year, if they continue the regimen.
- Health & Medicine
Problems for Preemies: Early birth is linked to insulin overproduction
Children born prematurely are more likely than their full-term counterparts to develop insulin resistance, a marker for diabetes.
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Unhealthy Change: Diversity in a bacterial colony can prolong infections
Bacteria that live in biofilms can diversify into several different types, making infections harder to treat.
- Tech
Lighthearted Transistor: Electronic workhorse moonlights as laser
A versatile new transistor amplifies electricity and emits a laser beam.
- Chemistry
Busy Beads: Magnetic dust takes droplets for a ride
With a bit of dust and a magnet, chemists can shuttle drops around on a surface, an advance that could lead to chemistry labs on a chip.
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Profiles in Melancholy, Resilience: Abused kids react to genetics, adult support
Abused and neglected children who possess two copies of a gene that affects brain chemistry develop depression at an elevated rate only if they also lack support from at least one adult.
- Materials Science
New lithium battery design charges up
Researchers have developed a new, safer type of electrode for lithium batteries.
- Materials Science
A hard new material with a soft touch
Adding exotic substances called quasicrystals to polymers creates nonabrasive hard materials, which could soon serve as coatings in machine parts.
- Health & Medicine
Trials affirm value of drug
The drug STI-571, previously shown to work against chronic myelogenous leukemia, also helps patients who have slipped into an acute, highly lethal form of this cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Old and new drugs may fight myeloma
In some people with a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma, treatment with thalidomide or PS-341, which induces programmed cell death, may improve their chances of survival.
- Materials Science
Nanotubes: Knot just for miniature work
A new technique can spin individual nanotubes into durable ribbons and threads visible to the naked eye.
