1,375 results
- Health & Medicine
Parasite payback
The protozoan parasite that causes leishmaniasis seems vulnerable to the anticancer drug tamoxifen, research in mice shows.
- Ecosystems
Bring in the replacements
Missing links in ecosystems disrupted by extinctions could be restored by introducing species that perform the same function, new field experiments suggest.
- Earth
In the aftermath
The charcoal left after a forest fire stimulates microbial activity that boosts carbon loss from organic material covering the ground.
- Humans
Letters from the March 15, 2008, issue of Science News
Alpha bird(s) There is a detail not explicit in the article “Birds network too” (SN: 2/23/08, p. 125) that fits the computer network analogy. By its flight path, each bird adds its personal input and helps guide the course of the flock. Don BurnapRapid City, S.D. Andrea Cavagna, a physicist at Italy’s National Research Council, […]
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Dark Power: Pigment seems to put radiation to good use
The pigment melanin may enable certain fungi to convert dangerous radiation into usable energy.
- Microbes
Team spirit
Working together, bacteria and other microbes can accomplish much more than they can alone. Now scientists hope to harness that ability by engineering their own microbial consortia.
- Computing
Computing Evolution
Scientists sift through genetic data sets to better map twisting branches in the tree of life.
- Health & Medicine
Nobel Prize in medicine given for HIV, HPV discoveries
Three Europeans recognized for linking viruses to AIDS, cervical cancer.
- Ecosystems
Biota Behaving Badly
Members of an established ecosystem develop a sense of balance, usually permitting at least limited biodiversity and a stable structure. When interlopers arrive that aren’t responsive to the same environmental checks and balances, they can overrun the ecosystem, eliminating some members and quickly dominating others. Such bullying immigrants are known as invasive species—and they can […]
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Out of Thin Air
Biologists dream of the day when they could engineer crops to make fertilizer out of the nitrogen in the air.
- Health & Medicine
Fungus produces cancer drug
Several varieties of fungi that attack hazelnuts produce high quantities of the popular cancer drug paclitaxel.
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Tadpole Slayer: Mystery epidemic imperils frogs
An emerging protozoal disease has begun to trigger mass die-offs of frog tadpoles throughout much of the United States.
