News
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Health & MedicineProtein predicts sickle-cell danger
A biological marker of heart trouble can be used to identify sickle-cell anemia patients who are at greatest risk of developing a serious, disease-related complication.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineTransfusions harm some heart patients
Patients who undergo coronary-bypass surgery frequently receive unnecessary blood transfusions as part of their follow-up care.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineOld drug, new trick
The drug rapamycin, now used in transplants, may make chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia more effective.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineMolecule marks leukemia cells
Researchers can now single out malignant cells in the bone marrow of patients with acute myeloid leukemia by using an antibody that latches on to a newfound cell protein.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineRare marrow cells tackle deadly immune reaction
Researchers have developed a new technique to counter graft-versus-host disease, a common complication of treating blood cancers with marrow-cell transfusions.
By Ben Harder -
EarthLab tests hint at where xenon hides out
Results of recent experiments in which scientists squeezed a mixture of xenon and powdered quartz at high temperatures and pressures may explain why the gas is found at relatively low concentrations in the atmosphere.
By Sid Perkins -
Health & MedicineEbola may travel on the wing
Fruit bats can carry the Ebola virus, suggesting that they may spread it in Africa.
By Nathan Seppa -
AstronomyA puny way to make planets
Brown dwarfs are failures in the star-making business, but new observations reveal that they may still succeed in growing planets.
By Ron Cowen -
TechNanotubes spring eternal
Researchers have discovered that forests of carbon nanotubes squish and expand like foams, but with extraordinary resilience.
By Peter Weiss -
PhysicsPeek-a-bubble
Physicists made a stable, doughnut-shaped air bubble in water by encasing the gas ring in beads that form a stiff shell.
By Peter Weiss -
Health & MedicineTomorrow’s Clot Stoppers? New anticoagulants show promise
Two experimental drugs could become alternatives to warfarin and a class of other products that are used widely to protect against potentially fatal blood clots.
By Ben Harder -
Brain Training Puts Big Hurt on Intense Pain: Volunteers learn to translate imaging data into neural-control tool
Using brain-imaging technology, researchers have trained people to control activity in a pain-related brain area by using mental techniques, thus enabling them to reduce the intensity of temporary or chronic pain.
By Bruce Bower