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Intrinsic Remedies for Pain: Placebo effect may take various paths in brain
The brain draws on a range of pain-fighting options when people receive sham treatments for pain.
By Bruce Bower -
Earth
Diabetes from a Plastic? Estrogen mimic provokes insulin resistance
Exposure to trace amounts of an estrogenlike ingredient of polycarbonate plastic may increase the risk of diabetes, experiments in mice show.
By Ben Harder -
Dieting to Save a Species: Mother parrots that eat less avoid excess of sons
New Zealand's endangered, flightless parrot population is recovering from a shortage of daughters now that conservationists are counting calories for the mothers.
By Susan Milius -
Astronomy
Cosmic Push: Finding pieces of a dark puzzle
A controversial new study, the first to use gamma-ray bursts to measure the expansion of the universe far back in time, hints that dark energy may not be constant in time.
By Ron Cowen -
Health & Medicine
Defenses Down: Mutation boosts West Nile risk
A genetic mutation has been identified that increases a person's susceptibility to West Nile virus.
By Nathan Seppa -
Astronomy
Images reveal possible origin of young stars
Astronomers say they have solved the riddle of how young, massive stars can reside so close to the monster black hole at the Milky Way's center.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary Science
One star better than two?
Rather than disrupting the planet-forming process around another star, a nearby companion may sometimes enhance it, new computer simulations suggest.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Hubble spots North Star companion
Astronomers have obtained an image of a close companion star to Polaris, the North Star.
By Ron Cowen -
Astronomy
Gravity at play
Astronomers have found 19 cosmic mirages, distorted images created when the gravity of a massive galaxy bends and magnifies the light from a background object.
By Ron Cowen -
Materials Science
Making waves
Scientists have created thin, wavy silicon ribbons that stretch along with their rubber backing.
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Tech
Cranberry aid for assay
Cranberry juice, often used to stave off urinary-tract infections caused by Escherichia coli, also keeps the bacterium from reducing a biosensor's specificity.
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Humans
Letters from the January 21, 2006, issue of Science News
D. Durda, FIAAA/B612 Foundation Push, pull, zap, drench I’m surprised that NASA envisions an absurdly massive, nuclear-powered “gravitational tug” to avoid “the biggest problem” of a contact-tug’s need to “fir[e] its rocket engine only at specific times” to compensate for an asteroid’s rotation (“Protecting Earth: Gravitational tractor could lure asteroids off course,” SN: 11/12/05, p. […]
By Science News