Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Gene Therapy for Sickle-Cell Disease?
By adding a useful gene to offset the effects of a faulty one, scientists have devised a gene therapy that prevents sickle-cell anemia in mice.
- Earth
Early last month, the iceberg cracked
A huge crack across the floating portion of an Antarctic glacier has cleaved the ice shelf and spawned a new iceberg much more quickly than scientists had expected.
- Earth
Charcoal warms the whole world
The techniques used in developing nations to transform wood into charcoal are net emitters of greenhouse gases, even though the wood used to produce the fuel removed globe-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it was growing.
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19045
The methane and carbon monoxide released during charcoal production have short atmospheric lifetimes compared with that of fossil fuel carbon dioxide. In the long run, the net effect of charcoal on the climate is nil because the wood used to produce charcoal was formed from carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. Recommending that nations convert from charcoal […]
- Chemistry
Compounds cool without minty taste
Scientists have created a compound that delivers a more potent version of the cooling sensation of menthol, without the minty taste or smell.
- Chemistry
Everything Midas touched turned to rot
Researchers have found the nutrient sources for fungi that caused the decay of much of King Midas' tomb and its contents.
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Native signers may get right-brain aid
Controversial brain-imaging data suggest that the right side of the brain contributes to the grammatical skills of people who grow up using sign language.
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Neural peek at anxious, depressed kids
A brain structure called the amygdala may play an influential role in severe cases of childhood anxiety and depression.
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Foster infants retain security option
As late as age 18 months, foster infants quickly develop a secure relationship with a nurturing foster mother.
- Anthropology
Evolving in Their Graves
Understanding what early, rudimentary burials meant to modern humans' antecedents—assuming early humans did, in fact, bury their dead—could help anthropologsts untangle a lasting mystery of human evolution.
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18980
Everyone seems to agree that the Tyrannosaurus rex Sue was seriously debilitated with perhaps a lifelong lameness. Peter L. Larson attributes her survival to care and feeding by group members. Is there evidence of group care for the injured among reptiles of any era? Might Sue’s survival be due not to group care but simply […]
- Paleontology
Turn Your Head and Roar
The analysis of fossils that preserve evidence of diseases that appear to be similar or identical to afflictions that strike modern animals, including humans, could help scientists better grasp the causes and courses of today's ailments.
