Earth
- Humans
Weighing the costs of conferencing
A provocative editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association questions the value of attending scientific conferences. It’s a theme that reemerges every few years. And in times of tight budgets, the idea seems worth revisiting.
By Janet Raloff - Life
Pesticide-dosed bees lose future royalty, way home
Unusual field tests reveal how common insecticides, even at nonfatal doses, can erode colonies and threaten the future of bumblebees and honeybees.
By Susan Milius - Life
Fossils show signs of earliest burrowing
Worms’ seafloor tunneling more than a half-billion years ago could have stirred up evolutionary forces.
By Devin Powell -
- Life
The farther the better for corals after oil spill
Deepwater organisms may be slow to recover from Gulf accident.
- Humans
Growth-promoting antibiotics: On the way out?
Sixty-two years later — to the day — after Science News ran its first story on the growth-promoting effects of antibiotics, a federal judge ordered the Food and Drug Administration to resume efforts to outlaw such nonmedical use of antibiotics.
By Janet Raloff - Life
Industrial roar changes nearby plant reproduction
Trees and wildflowers register the effects as animals flee (or not) from grinding engines.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Nanopollutants change blood vessel reactivity
Tiny particles alter normal vessel functions, animal studies show.
By Janet Raloff -
- Earth
Greek volcano reawakens
Potential eruption wouldn’t be anything like Santorini’s storied Bronze Age blowout, scientists say.
- Life
Mild winters may shift spread of mosquito-borne illness
By pushing insects to start biting mammals earlier in the year, warmer cold months could increase the transmission of a brain virus affecting people and horses.
By Susan Milius - Earth
Fault’s twists may shake up earthquake forecasts
Deep angles along the southern San Andreas mean future temblors may be stronger than predicted.
By Devin Powell