5,519 results
- Earth
Greenhouse Plants? Vegetation may produce methane
Lab tests suggest that a wide variety of plants may routinely do something that scientists previously thought impossible; produce methane in significant quantities in an oxygenated environment.
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New bacteria linked to vaginal infections
Several newly described bacteria appear to share much of the responsibility for causing a common infection in women.
- 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.
- Humans
Letters from the May 21, 2005, issue of Science News
Rascal rabbits Evidence of animals sensing where people are looking and what they’re seeing is interesting yet hardly new (“Monkey See, Monkey Think: Grape thefts instigate debate on primate’s mind,” SN: 3/12/05, p. 163). For years, I have observed that wild rabbits will remain motionless as long as I stare in their direction. But as […]
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Bacterial Nanny: Beewolf grows microbe for protecting young
A European wasp leaves a smear of bacteria near each of her eggs as protection against the perils of youth.
- Earth
Intrepid Explorer
A robotic torpedo called an autonomous underwater vehicle has provided scientists with an unprecedented look at the underside of an Antarctic ice shelf.
- Chemistry
Expanding the genetic code
In an effort to explore the mechanisms of evolution, researchers have designed an unnatural chemical base and inserted it into synthetic DNA in a test tube.
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Human immune signal sets off bacterial attack
A chemical secreted by immune cells when people are stressed or sick causes a common gut bacterium to go on the offensive against its host.
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19555
Maybe there was a belch of hydrogen sulfide involved in the Permian extinctions. However, did it leave some geological trace, as did the vast Siberian outpourings of magma, both on land and in the sea, over the course of a million years during the period? Stan SkirvinScottsdale, Ariz. The ocean venting proposed by Lee Kump’s […]
- Tech
Artificial Animalcules
Advances that include the first swimming micromachine and novel designs for similar devices are deepening scientists' understanding of the bizarre world of microscale liquids.
- Health & Medicine
The Case of the Suspicious Hamsters
A recent outbreak of Salmonella poisoning showed that hamsters, mice, and other pocket pets can spread the dangerous bacteria, which are typically associated with chickens and eggs.
- Chemistry
Cactus goo purifies water
Scientists are working on an environmentally benign water-filtering process that uses the nopal cactus.
