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  1. Health & Medicine

    A Toast to Healthy Hearts: Wine compounds benefit blood vessels

    Researchers have identified a class of compounds in red wine that might be responsible for much of the beverage's cardiovascular benefit.

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  2. 19764

    This article says that a planet so close to a red dwarf would be forced to “rotate in sync” with the star. Is this the same situation that causes the moon to rotate in sync with Earth? Ken BollersHudson, Colo. Yes. First, the larger body (the red dwarf) pulls the smaller body (the planet) slightly […]

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  3. Planetary Science

    Howdy, Neighbors: Long-term study finds a batch of red dwarfs

    Astronomers have found 20 previously unknown star systems that lie within 33 light-years of Earth.

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  4. 19763

    If membership in a species is characterized by the inability to breed with members of another species, how can there be “animal species known to have arisen from crossbreeding with other species? Jeffry D. MuellerEldersburg, Md. Exceptions happen. Also, biologists argue about what defines a species. —S. Milius I suggest that the new species be […]

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  5. Animals

    New Butterfly: High-alpine species from low-life parents

    Little bluish butterflies high in the Sierra Nevada could be one of the few animal species to have arisen from crossbreeding of two other species.

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  6. 19762

    Your article made a common mistake in characterizing the mechanism of steroid-hormone receptors. These receptors are not “proteins on the cell surface” but rather, and uniquely, positioned intracellularly. Steroid hormones pass directly from the bloodstream to the cytoplasm, where they induce changes in the receptor proteins, enable movement into the nucleus, and activate specific genes. […]

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Cancer Link: Gene regulates progesterone effect on breast cells

    The BRCA1 protein regulates the effect of pro-growth progesterone, which could explain why having a mutated BRCA1 gene predisposes a woman to breast cancer.

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  8. Earth

    Leaden swan song

    Large numbers of trumpeter swans are succumbing to lead poisoning as a result of ingesting old shotgun pellets in areas where use of lead shot has been banned for more than a decade.

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  9. Earth

    No-stick chemicals can mimic estrogen

    Some of the perfluorinated compounds used to impart nonstick properties to fabrics and cookware can not only activate a receptor for sex hormones but also inappropriately feminize fish.

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  10. Earth

    Sharks, dolphins store pollutants

    Florida's top aquatic predators are rapidly accumulating high concentrations of brominated flame retardants and other persistent toxic chemicals.

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  11. Earth

    Could Prozac muscle out mussels?

    Antidepressant drugs may be depressing wild-mussel populations.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Test identifies people at cardiac risk

    Measurement of an electrical abnormality in the heart aids doctors in determining who is most at risk for cardiac arrest.

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