Uncategorized
- Earth
A slump or a slide? Density decides
Using a full-scale simulator, researchers showed that just a small difference in soil density determines whether a landslide becomes a fast-moving killer or merely one that slowly slumps downhill.
By Sid Perkins -
19404
What an amazing time resolution for 34 million years ago! Could the temperature changes recorded reflect seasonal eel migration, rather than changes in the Gulf of Mexico? Are the results consistent between otoliths found in close association? Does this offer a method of more precise dating similar to the use of tree rings? Gordon C. […]
By Science News - Paleontology
Listening to fish for extinction clues
Tiny fossils from fish that survived worldwide extinctions about 34 million years ago may reveal that cooler winters caused the die-off.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Fetal cells pop up in mom’s thyroid
A woman's thyroid gland contains male cells, suggesting that cells from her son passed into her when he was a fetus.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Gene helps alcohol help the heart
A genetic study indicates that moderate consumption of alcohol helps keep the heart healthy.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Pill boosts cancer risk in some women
Women who took oral contraceptives before 1975, and whose mother or sister had breast cancer between 1944 and 1952, have triple the likelihood of getting breast cancer as compared with similar women who didn't take the pill.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Interferon delays multiple sclerosis
In some people who show early-warning signs of multiple sclerosis, the drug interferon-beta-1a seems to delay or even prevent the disease from becoming full-blown.
By Nathan Seppa - Archaeology
Agriculture’s roots go tropical
Tropical-forest dwellers in Central America may have cultivated manioc and other root crops as many as 7,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Archaeology
Early farmers crop up in Jordan
An ancient site discovered in southern Jordan dating back more than 9,000 years may help to illuminate the origins of farming in the Middle East.
By Bruce Bower -
- Astronomy
X-Ray Visionary
Proposed observatory would image black holes and coronas of nearby stars.
By Ron Cowen -
Certain mental ills may be tied to violence
A long-term study in New Zealand links elevated violence rates in young adults to the presence of at least one of three psychiatric ailments—alcohol dependence, marijuana dependence, and a range of psychotic experiences and beliefs called schizophrenia-spectrum disorder.
By Bruce Bower