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PhysicsLight Switch: Crystal flaws tune the wavelengths
By tweaking the crystal structure of the semiconductor gallium arsenide, researchers may have found a way to make cheaper components for fiberoptic networks.
By Peter Weiss -
Health & MedicineFlawed Therapy: Hormone replacement takes more hits
Elderly women taking estrogen and progestin are more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and stroke than are women not taking the hormones.
By Nathan Seppa -
Gut Check
The normal microbial inhabitants of our intestines do a lot for their host.
By John Travis -
AstronomyRed Team, Blue Team: Galaxy survey shows that color matters
Using the largest survey of galaxies ever compiled, astronomers have found that the cosmos divides sharply along color lines.
By Ron Cowen -
Planetary ScienceNew view of Earth
On May 8, 2003, scientists pointed a camera on board the Mars Global Surveyor probe back at Earth and captured the first image from another planet that shows our world as more than a point of light.
By Sid Perkins -
Memorable Shot: Smallpox vaccine has lasting effect
People vaccinated against smallpox decades ago may retain significant immunity to the virus that causes the disease.
By John Travis -
AgricultureMad Cow Future: Tests explore next generation of defenses
As Canadian health officials investigate mad cow disease within the country's borders, researchers are already working on the next generation of defenses.
By Susan Milius -
ChemistryMultiple Motions: Applied electrons make molecules vibrate and move
A new technique enables scientists to choreograph individual molecules to vibrate, break bonds, and move on a surface in specified ways.
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EarthCount Down: Chemicals linked to inferior sperm
New data suggest that typical exposures to chemicals called phthalates are associated with reduced fertility in men, but the specific phthalates they finger aren't those that researchers most expected to cause problems.
By Ben Harder -
HumansFrom the May 27, 1933, issue
CRYSTAL WONDERLAND You can see all these things through a microscope, as scientists and laymen have been seeing them for many years. But the way into this Lilliputia of the waters is being made even easier for you through the amazing artistry in glass of a worker at the American Museum of Natural History in […]
By Science News -
HumansRing World
Ever wonder what it might be like to live on a doughnut-shaped world? NASA has created a Web page that gives you a sense of what life would be like in a ringlike structure out in space, where there is no gravity except the centrifugal force generated by the structure’s spin. Simulation requires a Java-enabled […]
By Science News -
MathDeciphering the Wrinkles of Crumpled Sheets
Crumpling is a ubiquitous, though poorly understood, physical phenomenon. It occurs when a fender absorbs the energy of a car crash, when Earth’s crust buckles at the interface between colliding tectonic plates to create a mountain range, when a blood cell’s membrane folds to allow the cell to pass through a narrow capillary, when a […]