Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Serotonin lower in shift workers
Workers who rotate between day and night shifts have less of the brain chemical serotonin than day shift workers do.
- Earth
Beware summer radon-test results
Measuring household radon levels in summer may give misleadingly low results.
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Based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web resources on radon, I find that the decreases in radon levels in the summer are unlikely to be caused by a lack of air currents from less temperature differential in houses. The EPA states that an open window can be effective in reducing radon levels. And when are […]
- Astronomy
Veiled black holes
Many X ray sources in the sky could be active galactic nuclei smothered by gas and dust that blocks their emission of visible and ultraviolet light.
- Materials Science
Pliable carbon
The layers of carbon atoms that form graphite can be assembled into strong but flexible "graphene paper."
- Health & Medicine
CT heart scans: Risk climbs as age at screening falls
CT scans are increasingly used to investigate heart blockages, but their X rays can increase cancer risk.
- Animals
Gender bender
Disabling a chemical-sniffing organ crucial for courting behavior makes girl mice act like frisky boys.
- Earth
Cholesterol boosts diesel toxicity
Nanoparticles in diesel exhaust can activate genes that worsen cholesterol's damaging effects.
- Planetary Science
Deep Impact and Stardust: Still on assignment
Two sturdy NASA spacecraft have new assignments, studying comets and looking for exoplanets.
- Math
Cracking the Cube
A combination of mathematical analysis and supercomputer number-crunching proves that any Rubik's Cube can be solved in 26 moves or fewer.
- Earth
Hammered Saws
Sawfish, shark relatives that almost went extinct several decades ago, have now gained protection by international treaty.
- Health & Medicine
Taking a Jab at Cancer
Vaccines that train a person's immune system to kill cancerous cells, when combined with drugs that block tumor defense mechanisms, are starting to show promise.
