Health & Medicine - Sep 21, 2009 15:03 - 1 Comment
Gene therapy has monkeys seeing red (and green)
The natural habitat of the squirrel monkey is the rainforest canopy. This is a young male in the Brazilian Amazon. All male squirrel monkeys are red-green color blind but the majority of females have trichromatic color vision.
Earth & Environment - Sep 18, 2009 4:00 - 2 Comments
‘Punk-size’ T. rex found in China
Above, the skull of Raptorex is dwarfed by the skull of “Sue,” the famous adult T. rex at the Field Museum. (Credit: Paul Sereno)
Earth & Environment - Sep 17, 2009 19:58 - 5 Comments
Photo reveals Africa’s cryptic cat
“It is a very cryptic animal. Almost nothing is known about it,” says Gary Aronsen.
Health & Medicine - Sep 17, 2009 19:43 - 9 Comments
Same name, different lung cancer
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the genetic, cellular, and molecular nature of lung cancer in many never-smokers is different from that of smoking-related lung cancers, and there is good evidence now that the best treatment and prevention strategies for never-smokers may be different as well,” says Charles Rudin.
Science & Technology - Sep 17, 2009 19:27 - 7 Comments
Nanotubes may yield greener solar cells
In a carbon nanotube-based photodiode, electrons (blue) and holes (red) release their excess energy to efficiently create more electron-hole pairs when light is shined on the device. (Credit: Nathan Gabor)
Society & Culture - Sep 17, 2009 19:07 - 3 Comments
Can polling predict terrorism?
“This is the first study to relate public opinion across countries to concrete actions such as terrorism,” says study coauthor Alan Krueger.
Best of 2009 - Sep 17, 2009 4:00 - 11 Comments
BEST OF 2009: Are you sick and clean?
U. COLORADO (US)—Millions of Americans are getting a dousing of pathogenic bacteria along with their daily showers, a new study finds. Researchers have discovered that water spurting from showerheads can distribute pathogen-filled droplets that suspend themselves in the air and can easily be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 16, 2009 19:55 - 3 Comments
‘Tendons’ bring building in line after big quake
Schematic diagram of the rocking frame set up for shake-table testing. The steel-braced frame is shown in red. The white structure behind the frame simulates the weight of a three-story building. The inset shows the replaceable steel fuse, in yellow, at the base of the rocking frame. Behind and in front of the fuse are the vertical steel cables that pull the building back into plumb after an earthquake. During testing, the frame was sandwiched between two of the white structures. (Credit: Xiang Ma/Stanford)
Earth & Environment - Sep 16, 2009 19:25 - 1 Comment
Soybeans with built-in bug repellent
“There are many reasons not to spray, but you can’t tell the growers to stop spraying until you give them an alternative,” Bryony Bonning, professor of entomology. (Credit: Robert J. O’Neil and Ho Jung Yoo/Purdue University)
Health & Medicine - Sep 16, 2009 19:07 - 3 Comments
Blood vessel growth’s an inside job
“The blood vessels themselves seem to participate in the process guiding the formation of the vascular network,” says senior study author Victoria Bautch.
Health & Medicine - Sep 16, 2009 4:00 - 3 Comments
Clip offers newborns a healthy start
A team of bioengineers has developed the SafeSnip device, shown at center, that could help save lives in regions where home births are common and infants are susceptible to infections caused by unsanitary conditions. (Credit: Paula Burch-Celentano)
Science & Technology - Sep 15, 2009 19:15 - 2 Comments
‘Jumping genes’ use bacteria to go viral
Tn7, which is regularly found in bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics, was originally isolated from E. Coli bacteria, pictured here. (Credit: Jake Jacobs)
Health & Medicine - Sep 15, 2009 18:57 - 13 Comments
Depressed? Anxious? Aren’t we all?
“I think we’ve got to get used to the idea that mental illness is actually very common,” says Jane Costello. “People are growing up impaired, untreated, and not functioning to their full capacity because we’ve ignored it.”
Earth & Environment - Sep 15, 2009 17:27 - 2 Comments
Birds fly the coop when climate shifts
A low elevation species, the Bullock’s Oriole, or Icterus bullockii, responded to climate change by tracking precipitation. (Credit: Morgan Tingley)
Society & Culture - Sep 15, 2009 16:42 - 5 Comments
In prison, addiction is drug-free
“Improving correctional policies for addiction treatment could dramatically improve prisoner and community health as well as reduce both taxpayer burden and reincarceration rates,” says Amy Nunn, lead author of the study.
Best of 2009 - Sep 15, 2009 5:00 - 3 Comments
BEST OF 2009: Not a monster. It’s Frankencamera
STANFORD (US)—A team of photo scientists is reinventing digital photography with the introduction of an open-source camera. Dubbed “Frankencamera,” the prototype will give programmers around the world the chance to create software that will teach cameras new tricks. (more…)
Society & Culture - Sep 15, 2009 1:00 - 3 Comments
From space, signs of a brighter economy
Increased nighttime lighting indicates economic growth in Poland and Eastern Europe between 1992 (above) and 2002 (below). Poland is in the top left quarter of each image. (Credit: NOAA and USAF Weather Agency)
Earth & Environment - Sep 15, 2009 1:00 - 1 Comment
To save the ash, save the seeds
The effect of losing the nation’s ash trees would be felt in many areas, most notably in the ecosystem, says Mark Widrlechner, who is taking part in a national effort to collect ash tree seeds. “You take a major tree out of the forest and what is going to fill the hole? Another native tree might do it or something non-native could fill the gap and change the ecosystem.”
