Uncategorized
- Earth
Study finds low battlefield hazard in depleted uranium
A calculation of the health impacts from the use of depleted uranium in antitank munitions projects small increases in the risk of lung cancer and colon cancer, but only for the most heavily exposed individuals.
By Janet Raloff - Materials Science
Nanotube carpet mimics gecko feet
Carbon nanotubes can outdo the extraordinary sticking power of a gecko's foot hairs.
- Physics
Materials scientists go flat out
By separating flakes of single-layer crystals from several ordinary materials, physicists have discovered what may be both the world's thinnest materials and a technologically promising new class of substances.
By Peter Weiss - Agriculture
Feds pull approval of poultry antibiotic
The FDA has announced its intent to ban an antibiotic used by poultry farmers because of concerns that continued use of the drug could make it harder to successfully treat food poisoning in people with products from the same class of antibiotics.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Infants pick up toxic chemicals in intensive care
Newborns in intensive care units absorb high concentrations of a potentially toxic phthalate from the plastic tubing and other equipment used in treating them.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
After terror, moms’ stress affects kids
Infants born to women who developed posttraumatic stress disorder during pregnancy have unusually low concentrations of the hormone cortisol.
By Ben Harder - Astronomy
Cosmic soot
Astronomers have found a group of complex organic compounds, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, from a time when the universe was less than one-third its current age.
By Ron Cowen -
19582
This article says that fungal sprays could kill nontarget insect species, “but most of those species people don’t want anyway.” That is a flippant way to blow off reasonable questions. “Most” means “not all,” so some of them people would want. And I would suggest that most people don’t want (don’t care about) worms or […]
By Science News - Health & Medicine
Siccing Fungi on Malaria
Two independent research teams have found that fungi can kill mosquitoes or reduce the efficiency with which they transmit the malaria parasite.
By Ben Harder - Astronomy
Cosmic Computing
The largest computer simulation of the universe ever compiled uses dark matter to shed light on the formation of galaxies and on the visible structure of the universe.
By Ron Cowen - Humans
From the August 3, 1935, issue
Testing model zeppelins and defending quantum theory.
By Science News -
What’s the Buzz?
The highly unusual “bzzzpeek” Web site gives you a chance to compare how people in different countries try to imitate animal (and some vehicle) sounds. Click on an animal or vehicle symbol, then on the language of the native speaker, to hear each result. The animals include sheep, pigs, turkeys, frogs, dogs, and cats. Among […]
By Science News