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Extinction Threat To Wild Salmon
Canadian wild salmon are being driven to extinction by outbreaks of parasites from fish farms. (BBC)
Half Of Amazon Lost By 2030
Climate change could speed up the large-scale destruction of the Amazon rainforest and bring the "point of no return" much closer than previously thought. (The Guardian)
What Does Climate Change Mean for the U.S.?
The regional effects range from more wildfires in the west to stronger storms in the east. (Scientific American)

Kangaroo Farts Could Fight Global Warming
Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. (ABC)
Failing To Learn From Mistakes Is Genetic
One reason that some people seem unable to learn from their mistakes has been pinpointed by scientists. (The Telegraph)

Unhappy? Self-Critical? Maybe You’re Just a Perfectionist
Several recent studies stand as a warning against taking the platitudes of achievement too seriously. (New York Times)
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Science News 2006
Here's a list of all the news articles that appeared on Science a GoGo in 2006.


22 December 2006
Nano-Critters Found In Mine Sludge
Shotgun sequencing of acidic slime from a disused mine site has turned up a totally new phylum of Archaea...

21 December 2006
Astronomers Mull Mystery Gamma Ray Burst
Scientists have discovered what appears to be a new kind of black hole explosion; what they have termed a "hybrid gamma-ray burst"...

20 December 2006
Mayo Clinic Zooms In On Nanobacteria
Researchers have been given a tantalizing glimpse of what could be the smallest living creatures on the planet...

19 December 2006
Comet Dust Yields Up Some Surprises
Scientists say the retrieved comet dust from the Stardust mission contains some of the most primitive and exotic chemical structures ever studied in a laboratory...

18 December 2006
Direct Brain Control Of Robot Demonstrated
A metal skullcap with electrodes sticking out allows the wearer to control the movement of a humanoid robot using signals read directly from their brain...

15 December 2006
Obesity Could Bankrupt UK Health System
English doctors are concerned that if nothing is done, the rising prevalence of obesity could bankrupt the country's health system...

14 December 2006
Atom-Smashers Get Peek At Top Quark
Physicists have gotten their first look at the top quark, a subatomic particle that was spat out of the Department of Energy’s Tevatron Collider without its antimatter partner...

13 December 2006
Regeneration Hinges On Cell Death
Paradoxically, regenerating a limb or growing a spinal cord is dependent on the death of certain cells...

12 December 2006
Petite Nuke Exchange Could Derail Global Climate
Two new studies predict that even a small-scale regional nuclear war could disrupt the global climate for a decade or more and impact nearly everyone on Earth...

11 December 2006
Recycled Algorithm Sharpens Astronomical Images
An image enhancement technique originally designed to improve microscope images has proved equally effective at sharpening the details on images of distant galaxies...

8 December 2006
Viagra Touted As Anti-Cancer Drug
While it won't cure cancer, researchers say the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra can turbocharge the body's cancer-attacking T-cells...

7 December 2006
Cousin Of Higgs Boson Detected
After 30 years of looking, an independent physicist claims to have detected axion particles, members of a family of particles that likely also includes the Higgs boson...

6 December 2006
Southern Ocean Could Put Brakes On Warming Trend
Global warming could be slowed down thanks to the Southern Ocean, which appears capable of absorbing significantly more heat and carbon dioxide than previously thought, but marine biologists are pondering the likely environmental cost...

5 December 2006
Oxytocin Could Be Used As Autism Treatment
Oxytocin, often referred to as the trust drug, appears to have significant positive effects on adult autism patients...

4 December 2006
Of Pendulums And Predation
The study of oscillations in biological populations could lead to profound insights into the workings of complex ecological systems...

1 December 2006
New Discovery Doubles Age Of First Human Rituals
It seems that humanity's first rituals were not carried out 40,000 years ago in Europe, but rather 70,000 years ago in Africa...

30 November 2006
Big Gender Differences In Language Learning
Males and females use different parts of their brains to process basic aspects of grammar, suggesting that gender is an important factor in the acquisition and use of language...

29 November 2006
Déjà Vu Research Is Outta Sight
Working with a blind subject, researchers in the UK have overturned the theory that déjà vu is connected to the optical pathway...

28 November 2006
Scottish Doctors Say "Nay" To Modern Medicine
Healthcare authorities in the UK are alarmed that more than half of all Scottish doctors prescribe homeopathic or herbal remedies through the National Health Service...

27 November 2006
Permian Extinction Triggered Rise Of Complex Marine Organisms
While the Permian-Triassic extinction event wiped out an estimated 95 percent of marine species, it also laid the foundation for the explosive growth in complex marine organisms and ecosystems...

24 November 2006
Wild Wheat Gene Puts A Rocket Under Crop Protein Levels
A new agricultural revolution could be in the offing as plant scientists use a gene from a wild variety of wheat to ramp-up protein and nutrient levels in commercial wheat crops...

23 November 2006
Scientists Explore Manipulation Of Cancer Evolution
Oncologists are working with evolutionary biologists and ecologists to explore the possibility of radical new cancer treatments that manipulate the evolution of cancerous tumors...

22 November 2006
Pitch Black The New Black
Pitch black metal created with a super-intense laser blast can absorb virtually all the light falling on it, opening up a number of exciting applications...

21 November 2006
Bizarre Deep-Sea Communities Give Up Secrets
Scientists have observed, for the first time, the bizarre deep-sea communities living around cold methane seeps off New Zealand's east coast...

20 November 2006
Success With Limb Regeneration
Researchers have been able to regenerate a wing in a chick embryo - a species not known to be able to regrow limbs - suggesting that the potential for regeneration exists in all vertebrates, including humans...

17 November 2006
Lizards Pushed Into Evolutionary Fast Lane
Evolutionary biologists have witnessed natural selection dramatically change direction in a very short period of time...

16 November 2006
Nanotech Challenges Identified
Humanity is in danger of squandering the potential of nanotechnology due to a lack of clear information about its risks, says a new nanotechnology taskforce...

15 November 2006
Early Biosphere Productivity Boosted By Cosmic Rays
Somewhat counter-intuitively, heavy cosmic ray bombardment led to exceptionally high productivity in the Earth's early biosphere...

14 November 2006
Did Poo Problems Plague Dead Sea Scroll Sect?
An ancient Jewish sect linked to the Dead Sea Scrolls appear to have had unusual toiletry and hygiene practices, which may have led to their poor longevity...

13 November 2006
Chaotic Neurons Enhance Brain's Processing
The brain dramatically enhances its processing power by using seemingly chaotic signals to represent the ambiguities of the real world...

10 November 2006
Cassini Spots Pseudo-Hurricane On Saturn
The Cassini spacecraft has captured something never before seen on another planet - a hurricane-like storm with a well-developed eye at Saturn's south pole...

9 November 2006
Tattoo Inks A Toxic Brew
Dangerous chemicals - some carcinogenic - are being used in tattoo parlors as pigments...

8 November 2006
Plankton Generating Oceanic Cloud Cover
Emissions from phytoplankton can dramatically alter cloud formation over oceans, adding a new and important variable into the climate change equation...

7 November 2006
Pimp My Retrovirus
Research into HIV gene therapy may be about to pay dividends, with positive results from a Phase I trial that used a modified version of the virus to deliver a gene that prevents HIV from reproducing...

6 November 2006
That's Cool: A Flotilla Of Parasols In Space
Scientists propose that a "global warming emergency" could be tackled with trillions of small sunshades launched into an orbit between the Sun and the Earth to reduce solar radiation and cool the Earth...

3 November 2006
Creature With No Brain Makes New Phylum A No-Brainer
A worm-like creature from the depths of the North Atlantic has led to the establishment of a new phylum, a rare event considering most major categories were already thought to be known...

2 November 2006
Clays Exhibit Novel Antibacterial Properties
Beauty treatments that use clay aren't new, but clay-based medicinal treatments are, especially when they go beyond the capabilities of existing antibiotics...

1 November 2006
Doctors Identify Potential Cause Of SIDS
US medicos say they have the strongest evidence yet that sudden infant death syndrome has a concrete biological basis...

31 October 2006
Elephants Join Cognitive Elite
Experiments have revealed that elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror, an important indicator of self-recognition that places them alongside humans, dolphins and great apes...

30 October 2006
Pharmacologists Confirm Chemo's Brain Damaging Effects
A new study confirms that "chemobrain" is a real side-effect of chemotherapy treatment, causing a decline in memory and other cognitive functions...

27 October 2006
Threat From Plummeting Biodiversity Qualified
A large meta-study has shown that biodiversity is intrinsically linked to the ecological "services" that nature provides to humanity, which now look set for a major upset...

26 October 2006
Back To The Drawing Board For Human Migration Patterns
Human polyomavirus, a benign virus used as a marker for tracing human migration out of Africa, appears to be evolving much faster than previously thought, making it an unreliable yardstick and calling into question hundreds of previous studies that relied on it...

25 October 2006
Developing World Antes Up In Greenhouse Game
Industrialized nations may not be entirely to blame for the greenhouse effect as it seems that cooking fires in the developing world are a much bigger contributor than previously thought...

24 October 2006
Shrinking Food Supply Leads To Shrinking Brain
Scientists studying orangutans in Indonesia have evidence for an evolutionary connection between food availability and brain size...

23 October 2006
Magnetic Bacteria Maintain Their Mystery
Scientists have demonstrated that magnetic bacteria use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate more efficiently, but just how they do it is still not clear...

20 October 2006
Exotic Underground Bacteria Thrive On Radiation Rather Than Sunlight
Unusual bacteria that live two miles underground are one of the few life-forms on Earth to exist without sunlight; instead feeding on hydrocarbons irradiated by uranium ore...

19 October 2006
Magnetic Appeal Of Schizophrenic Superconductors
Ultra-narrow wires can behave as either superconductors or insulators, depending on the influence of magnetic fields. Now, scientists think they know why...

18 October 2006
Look Ma, No Biofuel Cell!
Scientists have coaxed proteins to generate electricity in a biofuel cell without the infrastructure of a cell being present...

17 October 2006
Scientists Create Super-Heavy Element 118
After months of particle accelerator shenanigans, scientists have managed to create three atoms of the newest super-heavy element, element 118...

16 October 2006
Swimming Critters Add New Variable To Climate Confusion
Tiny phytoplankton have emerged as the champions of ocean mixing, with their swimming antics providing fully one-third of the energy needed to drive Earth's "conveyor belt" system of ocean circulation; a hugely important player in deciding global climates...

13 October 2006
Astronomers Scope The Weather On Extrasolar Planet
The first direct observations of distinct day and night temperatures on a planet orbiting another star have been made...

12 October 2006
Cat Parasite Aiming For Global Male Domination
Women harboring the feline parasite Toxoplasma gondii are much more likely to give birth to boys if they become pregnant...

11 October 2006
Peptide Cocktail Stops Bleeding In Seconds
A biodegradable liquid made up of protein fragments can stop bleeding in wounds within seconds by self-assembling into a nanoscale protective barrier gel...

10 October 2006
Farty Gas Triggers Suspended Animation State
Hydrogen sulfide gas, known for its rotten egg smell, has a surprising effect on the metabolic system, inducing a state of suspended animation while maintaining normal blood pressure...

9 October 2006
Mars Rover Snapped From Orbit
A high resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken a remarkable picture that shows the exploration rover Opportunity poised on the rim of Mars' Victoria crater...

6 October 2006
Black Hole The Ultimate Sub-Woofer
A cacophony of ultra-deep sound is resonating through galaxy M87 thanks to a black hole that emits sounds around 56 octaves below middle C...

5 October 2006
Telescope Tag-Team Nets New Planets
The Hubble Space Telescope and ESO’s Very Large Telescope have worked together to uncover some rather exotic new extrasolar planets...

4 October 2006
Biochemists Mull Alternative DNA Structures
Scientists are trying to establish how nature arrived at DNA's simple and elegant structure by making alternative DNA forms...

3 October 2006
Single Pixel Camera Snaps High-Res Images
Researchers have created a digital camera that uses a single-pixel sensor and hundreds-of-thousands of tiny mirrors to capture mega-pixel images...

2 October 2006
Black Holes A Cosmic Contraceptive?
Old stars dominated many large galaxies in the early universe, raising the question of why these galaxies progressed into adulthood so early on in the life of the universe...

29 September 2006
Stormy Times For Uranus
The Hubble Space Telescope has snapped some pics of a dark spot on Uranus which astronomers believe is a massive storm...

28 September 2006
Rover Peers Into Mars' Victoria Crater
NASA's enduring and plucky Mars rover, Opportunity, has arrived at the lip of Victoria Crater and sent back some intriguing photographs...

27 September 2006
Beauty Is NOT In The Brain Of The Beholder
The phrase "easy on the eye" may also mean that an image is easy on the mind, as it seems that judgments of attractiveness depend on ease of mental processing...

26 September 2006
Stealth And Sacrifice Show Evolution At Work
Male crickets on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai have lost their noise-making ability but have adapted their behavior in an ingenious manner to continue to meet up with female crickets...

25 September 2006
Honey, I Shrunk The Particle Accelerator
Is that a particle accelerator in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me? Investigating the mysteries of the sub-atomic domain could soon become much easier thanks to new micro-accelerator technology...

22 September 2006
Hubble Locates Gaggle Of Baby Galaxies
Deep views from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have revealed more than 500 young galaxies that existed less than a billion years after the big bang...

21 September 2006
HIV Prefers Smokers
Smoking tobacco appears to trigger changes in the immune system, which can place smokers at a greater risk of HIV infection...

20 September 2006
Fat Gets A Makeover
There is an increasing amount of evidence that too little body fat can have some surprisingly dire consequences on your health...

19 September 2006
Floating Wind Turbines Could Sink NIMBY Protests
An MIT researcher believes huge offshore wind turbines one hundred miles out to sea could solve all the problems that have beset wind power...

18 September 2006
Extreme Diet Nixes Alzheimer's
New treatments may result from the finding that caloric restriction appears to prevent Alzheimer's by triggering activity in the brain associated with longevity...

15 September 2006
Unknown Writing System Uncovered On Ancient Olmec Tablet
A newly discovered stone tablet that represents the earliest written work found in the Americas uses a previously unknown writing system...

14 September 2006
The Incredible Shrinking Arctic
Arctic sea ice cover has shrunk five times more in the last two years than the entire last two decades...

13 September 2006
Prozac In Wastewater Threatens Mussels
Antidepressants aren't giving freshwater mussels much to smile about. In fact, Prozac could be threatening these mollusks with extinction...

12 September 2006
Dad's Smell Puts The Kibosh On Inbreeding
Scent plays an important role in determining sexual maturity in the animal world and now researchers say that the smell of human fathers delays the sexual maturation of their daughters...

11 September 2006
Homo Sapiens Brow-Beaten By Neanderthals
We modern-day humans think that we're pretty good looking compared to our brow-ridged, potato-nosed Neanderthal relatives; but new findings indicate that perhaps it is we who are the evolutionary freaks...

8 September 2006
New Theory Predicts Plenty Of Earth-Like Planets
NASA boffins crunching the numbers on how planets form say that a key feature of many planetary systems may make rocky planets with oceans relatively common...

7 September 2006
Pleistocene Era Methane Gatecrashes Greenhouse Gig
Huge quantities of the greenhouse gas methane, frozen in the Siberian permafrost since the Pleistocene era, are now being released into the atmosphere to add to our climate woes...

6 September 2006
Gravity Equations Useful In Modeling Earthbound Phenomena
Sir Isaac Newton would be proud. His classical equations used to calculate gravitational force have also been found to be accurate in modeling the spread of diseases by insects...

5 September 2006
Big Bang Brouhaha Brewing
The absence of galactic shadows is raising troubling new questions about the faint glow of microwave radiation once hailed as proof that the universe was created by a Big Bang...

4 September 2006
ESA's Lunar Module A Real Smart-1
ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft has impacted with the lunar surface, concluding one of the most comprehensive moon explorations ever...

1 September 2006
Veggie Juice Reduces Risk Of Vegetative State
A specific class of antioxidant found in fruit and vegetable juice could stave off Alzheimer’s disease, particularly for those people genetically predisposed to the disease...

31 August 2006
Humans: Designed For Fatness
The human body is intricately designed to strongly resist attempts to lose weight...

30 August 2006
We Can Forget It For You Wholesale
Researchers from State University New York have described how they erased long-term memories from the brain by inhibiting a particular memory-related enzyme molecule...

29 August 2006
Testosterone Apocalypse!
Researchers studying sex selection say that the world could be heading for a testosterone fueled meltdown thanks to the skewed sex ratio in nations like China and India...

28 August 2006
This Cancer Cell Will Self-Destruct In 5 Seconds
A synthetic compound that can initiate suicide in cancer cells could become the future of anti-cancer therapies...

22 August 2006
Forget The Thermometer, The Mercury Really Is Rising
Wildfires, more frequent and intense thanks to climate change, are unleashing high levels of toxic mercury from North American wetlands...

21 August 2006
Shell Toxin Could Be Effective Brain Treatment
A nerve toxin used by venomous sea snails could lead to new treatments for certain mental illnesses and brain diseases...

18 August 2006
Novel Transistor Design Blasts Single Electrons Through Circuits
Computer engineers have thrown out the rulebook on transistor design and put together a prototype nano-scale transistor that works by "bouncing" individual electrons off deflectors, in something akin to a game of billiards...

17 August 2006
Magnetic Field Creates Bizarre Superconducting Effects
One physicist has opened a can of worms with his theorem that Cooper-pair wave symmetry and time-reversal symmetry both break down when superconductors are exposed to strong magnetic fields...

16 August 2006
Astronomers Get Gnarly Over Planetary Definitions
The world's astronomers are bashing their heads together to try and nut out new definitions for the weird and wonderful collection of celestial bodies that inhabit our solar system...

15 August 2006
Star Formation Theories Set For Significant Revision
New observations suggest that there's far more deuterium (heavy hydrogen) in the galaxy than was previously thought, forcing astronomers to revisit existing star and galaxy formation theories...

14 August 2006
America: In Evolution We Don't Trust
One in three American adults firmly rejects the concept of evolution, a significantly higher proportion than found in any western European country...

11 August 2006
Antarctic Snowfall Snafu Derails Climate Models
Past measurements of Antarctic snowfall look to have been inaccurate, casting a shadow of uncertainty over a number of high-profile climate models and their associated projections...

10 August 2006
Novel Robot Will Be "Dynamic And Graceful," Says Prof
A robot that moves around thanks to an inverse mouse-ball drive could provide a much better platform for human interaction than wheeled or humanoid-type legged robots...

9 August 2006
Chandra Nuts-Out Hubble Constant Independently
The number that specifies the expansion rate of the universe, the Hubble constant, has been independently determined using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the new result agrees with figures obtained using other methods...

8 August 2006
DNA Structure Still Surprises
Biological dogma has long held that as a molecule of DNA is stretched, its double helix starts to unwind; but now, researchers have shown that this is, in fact, not the case...

7 August 2006
Biofuels Under The Spotlight
Renewable energy advocates are calling for greater coordination among biofuel researchers in the development of alternative energy sources...

4 August 2006
Boffin Ponders Cultural Manipulation By Cat Parasite
Much like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, one scientist is wondering whether the parasite Toxoplasma gondii might be affecting human behavior and culture on a massive scale...

3 August 2006
Obesity's Double-Whammy Effect On Healthcare System
Radiologists are finding that conventional x-ray and CT machines aren't powerful enough to effectively penetrate obese patients...

2 August 2006
Pine Plantations Not "Green"
Pine plantations are less "green" than previously thought, spewing out more carbon dioxide than natural pine forests or hardwood stands...

1 August 2006
Magnetic Memory Research Attracts More Funding
Instead of using electrical charges to represent data; processors and memory chips made of revolutionary new materials would rely on magnetism...

31 July 2006
Intestines Act As HIV Reservoir
Gut-associated lymphoid tissue accounts for 70 percent of the body's immune system and should be a priority target for HIV treatments, say researchers...

28 July 2006
Memory And Computation Set For Cohabitation
Scientists have turned semiconductors into magnets, potentially opening the door for computer chips that can both calculate and store data...

27 July 2006
Global Warming Behind Early Primate Diaspora?
What prompted early primates to travel between continents 55 million years ago has perplexed scientists for years. Could rapid global warming have been the driving force?

26 July 2006
Crop Yields Set To Plunge
Rising levels of greenhouse gases look set to dramatically reduce food crop yields, and scientists are warning that global food supplies could be at risk...

25 July 2006
Building Muscle From Fatty Stem Cells
Researchers have extracted adult stem cells from fatty tissue and turned them into smooth muscle cells, used to power hollow organs like blood vessels, the intestines and the bladder...

24 July 2006
Hacking The Speed Of Light
Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy have literally found a back-door to an otherwise rock-solid physical tenet - the speed of light...

21 July 2006
Astronomers Cop An Eyeful Of Star Explosion
Astronomers from the UK and Germany have detected a spectacular nuclear explosion bursting forth from the surface of a star 5,000 light years from Earth...

20 July 2006
Satellites Catch Earth Reconfiguring Its Magnetic Field
Scientists at ESA have managed to position four spacecraft to measure the Earth’s magnetic field as it spontaneously reconfigures itself...

19 July 2006
MIT Created Fiber Web Sees Everything
When shaped into a sphere, a new light detecting optical web can "see" the entire environment in which it resides...

18 July 2006
High Hopes For High Altitude Broadband
Broadband communications may be about to get a whole lot faster and cheaper, thanks to high-altitude platforms (HAPs) that can relay wireless and optical communications to remote areas...

17 July 2006
Protein Complex Fixes Knotty DNA Problem
Researchers have discovered how genetic information remains intact as cells divide, which may provide a greater understanding of what goes wrong when cancer occurs...

14 July 2006
Next Mars Lander Takes Shape
NASA's next Mars lander will gather samples from Mars' surface and the frozen layer that lies beneath, providing new clues about whether life ever existed on the red planet...

13 July 2006
Turbulence Gets Web-Slingers Flying
Researchers are using a new model to explain how spiders "fly" on their webs, a trick that lets them cover incredible distances on a single thread of silk...

12 July 2006
Alpine Glaciers: Going, Going, Gone!
European Alpine glacial cover could disappear completely by 2100, say Swiss researchers...

11 July 2006
Quantifying A Mystical Experience: Hallucinogenic Research Gets To Grips With Spirituality
An active agent contained in "sacred mushrooms" can induce strikingly similar mystical experiences in different subjects; and the experiences seem to be identical to the spontaneous epiphanies that people have reported for centuries...

10 July 2006
Face Blindness Caused By Single Gene
Imagine how debilitating and awkward it would be if you could not differentiate faces in a crowd. Now, researchers have found that the condition can be attributed to a single gene...

7 July 2006
Saturn's Rings Giving Up Some Of Their Secrets
In addition to the Jovian-type and Uranian-type rings around Saturn, astronomers now think that Saturn may be home to Neptunian-type rings as well...

6 July 2006
Giant Parasol To Help Image Distant Planets
Astronomers could soon be using a gigantic, daisy-shaped space shield to block out starlight that interferes with the view of planets in other solar systems...

5 July 2006
Sleeping Less And Self-Deluding More
New research not only reveals that we don’t get enough sleep, but we also think that we get more shuteye than we actually do...

4 July 2006
Matrix Turns Stem Cells Into Neural Components
Embryonic stem cells have astonished scientists with their facility to develop into any kind of cell in the human body, but our understanding of how stem cells make this transformation has been sketchy at best until now...

3 July 2006
Jellyfish Squish Greenhouse Dogma
Vast swarms of small jellyfish-like creatures, known as salps, may have a greater impact on carbon cycling than previously thought, demonstrating that even the most unassuming of organisms can play a vital role in the stabilization of environmental systems...

30 June 2006
Strange Quarks' Role In Proton Revealed
Physicists have found that strange quarks do indeed contribute to the structure of the proton; in particular, the proton's electric and magnetic fields...

29 June 2006
Second Agricultural Revolution In The Offing
Scientists have managed to trigger nodulation in legumes, a key part of the nitrogen fixing process. The research has the potential to dramatically reduce the world's need for inorganic fertilizers...

28 June 2006
Engineers Come Up With Undetectable Radar System
A stealth radar system that uses emissions resembling random noise is virtually undetectable, say the engineers who invented it...

27 June 2006
Cell Phone Emissions Beneficial?
A new study has found that cell phones can trigger “intracortical excitability” in the motor cortex of the brain. The researchers don’t believe the effect is dangerous, and hypothesize that the effect could actually be beneficial...

26 June 2006
Scientists Fuse Spider Silk And Silica To Create Novel New Material
New techniques in genetic engineering have allowed the creation of a new protein that combines the toughness of spider-silk with the intricate structure of silica...

23 June 2006
Up, Up And Away For Athletes Taking Viagra
Scientists conducting tests on athletes at high altitude have found that cyclists perform nearly 50 percent better (at cycling!) after taking the erectile dysfunction drug...

22 June 2006
Switchable Stickiness
An "optically switchable" material has been developed that changes from sticky to slippery when exposed to ultraviolet light...

21 June 2006
Addicted To Knowledge
Grasping a new concept triggers a biochemical cascade of natural opium-like substances in the brain, turning our thirst for knowledge into an addiction...

20 June 2006
Ray Guns In The Cinema: Camera Neutralizing Device Unveiled
A device that can stop both video and still digital cameras functioning in a given area could soon be put to use in cinemas and other venues where photography is unwanted...

19 June 2006
Rodent Comparison Supports Hygiene Hypothesis
A study comparing wild rodents with their laboratory counterparts may help to explain why people in hygienic industrialized societies have higher rates of allergy and autoimmune diseases than do people in less developed societies...

16 June 2006
HIV's Virulence An Evolutionary Accident
The high virulence of HIV-1 might be due to an accident of evolution. Researchers believe that gene function lost during the course of viral evolution predisposed HIV-1 to instigate the fatal immune system failures that are its hallmark...

15 June 2006
Stars Gone Wild
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has snapped some pictures of the dusty core of two merging galaxies and uncovered a region where star formation has gone wild...

14 June 2006
Trauma The Major Cause Of Schizophrenia?
Traumatic childhood maltreatment could be behind the majority of schizophrenia cases, say two psychiatrists who describe their theory as "an earthquake" that will radically change the psychiatric profession...

13 June 2006
Researchers Investigate Giant Sperm Paradox
The sperm of certain male fruit flies (drosophila bifurca) is 20 times longer than the creature itself, presenting evolutionary biologists with a cryptic conundrum...

12 June 2006
UCLA Announces Breakthrough In Protein Engineering
A new approach to protein engineering that harnesses essential cellular control mechanisms using nano-mechanical devices could lead to smart medicines...

9 June 2006
Altered Seasons Driving Genetic Changes
Rather than being driven by increasing temperatures, genetic changes in many species are occurring due to altered seasons...

7 June 2006
New Theory On Green Tea's Medicinal Properties
Is it green tea that helps prevent against cancer and cardiovascular disease in chain-smoking Asian populations? Scientists from Yale University have been investigating what is termed "the Asian paradox"...

5 June 2006
The Strange Case Of The Missing Dimension
When exposed to very high magnetic fields at very low temperatures, barium copper silicate enters a rarely observed quantum critical state of matter; where the magnetic waves go from a three-dimensional to a two-dimensional pattern...

2 June 2006
Smoking Gun For Permian-Triassic Extinction Found
Scientists have found evidence of a meteor impact in Antarctica that they believe caused the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history and led to the rise of the dinosaurs...

1 June 2006
Testosterone A Mixed Blessing For Songbirds
Male songbirds with high levels of testosterone did better in the mating stakes, but their offspring fared less well...

30 May 2006
What's In A Name? Stock Performance!
How a company's stock performs following its initial public offering depends on how easy it is to pronounce the company's name, say two Princeton psychologists...

29 May 2006
Hunt On For Fourth Spatial Dimension
Scientists have developed a new mathematical framework that they say competes with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity...

25 May 2006
Giant Cassava Plants Could Feed Africa
A genetically modified cassava plant more than twice as big as normal cassava roots could play a significant role in addressing food shortages in Africa...

24 May 2006
Candy-Munching Bacteria Prodigious Hydrogen Producers
A test reactor that uses sugar-waste consuming bacteria to produce hydrogen could be a viable source of non-polluting energy in the future...

23 May 2006
Feedback Loop Puts The Heat On Climate Predictions
Global temperature rises could be much greater than predicted, say scientists who have quantified the effects of the feedback-loop created by man-made emissions and natural carbon dioxide and methane gas...

22 May 2006
Drug Discoverers Opt For The Life Aquatic
Scientists are exploring newly discovered deep-sea reefs between Florida and the Bahamas in the hope of discovering marine organisms with the potential to treat diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's...

19 May 2006
Software Personalities To Populate Virtual World
Developed by AI experts, computer scientists, sociologists and linguists; a virtual world populated with software entities that interact socially is about to be switched on...

18 May 2006
Early Humans And Chimps Much More Than Just Good Friends
Early humans still had the hots for their chimp cousins and possibly interbred with them, suggesting that the evolutionary divergence is much more recent – and more complicated – than previously thought...

17 May 2006
Equatorial Glaciers Set To Disappear In 20 Years
The glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains, East Africa, will be gone in twenty years, thanks to recent increases in air temperature...

16 May 2006
New 3-D Map Of Cosmos Is Biggest Ever
The largest three-dimensional map of the universe ever constructed - a wedge-shaped slice of the cosmos that spans a tenth of the northern sky, has just been published...

15 May 2006
Redirect River To Save Louisiana, Says Engineer
An environmental engineer says re-routing the mouth of the Mississippi river would stop the disappearance of coastal wetlands which act as a natural barrier against hurricanes and storm surges...

12 May 2006
Faster Than Light Effect Baffles Boffins
Physicists are scratching their heads after seeing light travel through a doped optical fiber almost instantaneously. The researchers plan on taking the experiment further and putting one of Einstein's key tenets to the test...

11 May 2006
Key HIV/SARS Mechanism Revealed
UK scientists have revealed how HIV and SARS use "ribosomal frameshifting" to force a misreading of the genetic code during protein synthesis...

10 May 2006
You Can Lead A Martian Theory to Water, But...
A geological structure filmed by the Mars rover Opportunity and dubbed "Razorback", is unlikely to be evidence of water flow...

9 May 2006
Jellyfish Quickest On The Draw?
An ultra-high-speed camera has captured the stinging action of Hydra, revealing that the stingers accelerate at more than 5,000,000 g, and hit with the power of a bullet...

8 May 2006
New Red Spot Emerges On Jupiter
A new red spot has appeared on Jupiter and astronomers think it could indicate that the planet is in the midst of a global climate change...

5 May 2006
Human Activity Driving Changes In Atmospheric Circulation
A study of wind and ocean currents is the first to show that human activity is altering the circulation of the tropical atmosphere and ocean through global warming...

4 May 2006
Race On To Grow Sperm In Lab
Two European laboratories report intriguing results in coaxing testicle stem cells to grow into sperm outside the human body...

3 May 2006
Cannibalism The New Weapon In Cancer Fight
Scientists have a created a virus that forces deadly brain cancer cells to consume themselves. Better still, in addition to working on brain tumors, the virus works on other cancers as well...

2 May 2006
Neutron Source Fires Up
Scientists have finally witnessed the Spallation Neutron Source in action at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and predict it will herald a new generation of materials research...

1 May 2006
Volcano Study Suggests Bronze Age History Needs Rewrite
History professors may need to revise their lecture notes thanks to new evidence that disputes some commonly held assumptions about Aegean and Near Eastern civilization trade links...

28 April 2006
Artificial Eye Borrows From Nature
Berkeley researchers have built an artificial compound eye using self-aligning and self-writing techniques borrowed from nature...

27 April 2006
Persistence Of Triclocarban Surprises
The antibacterial soap ingredient triclocarban, a reproductive toxicant, has proven to be remarkably resilient, persisting through wastewater treatment and ending up as a fertilizer and soil conditioner for crops...

26 April 2006
Searching For A Long Lost Star
Scientists once considered the idea of our sun being part of a binary star system highly unlikely, but the recent discovery of the planetoid Sedna adds to the evidence in favor of a companion star...

25 April 2006
Focus Of Genetic Research Narrowed
A new way of determining proof of natural selection at the single gene level could replace what is known as the standard neutral model, which many scientists say is less than ideal...

24 April 2006
Researchers Give Cholesterol Critics The Finger
Cholesterol has had a lot of bad press, but researchers have now discovered that it’s also responsible for giving us the correct number of fingers and toes...

21 April 2006
Gamma Ray Apocalypse A Long Shot
Scientists running the numbers on the likelihood of a gamma ray burst extinguishing all life on Earth have concluded that it’s not very likely at all. Phew...

13 April 2006
Neurons Mix Digital And Analog Functionality
The longstanding belief that each of the brain's 100 billion neurons communicate strictly by a digital code looks to be incorrect...

12 April 2006
First Light For SETI Optical Telescope
The hunt for extraterrestrial life has just advanced to a new level, with an extremely powerful new optical telescope that will seek messages encoded as light - rather than radio - waves...

29 March 2006
Plants’ Capacity To Soak Up Carbon Limited
Planting trees won’t do much to halt global warming. Plants have a limited - and diminishing - capacity to clean-up excess carbon dioxide...

10 April 2006
Venus Express At Critical Juncture
Venus Express has traveled 400 million kilometers and is currently completing some final maneuvering that will hopefully put the spacecraft into a Venus orbit by April 13...

7 April 2006
Uranium’s Mutagenic Effect On DNA Established
New research has established that uranium ore and depleted uranium can bind to DNA; a finding that will have far-reaching implications for mining companies, residents of war-ravaged countries and the military...

6 April 2006
Photosensitive Algae Could Restore Vision
Scientists have used gene transfer technology to insert photosensitive proteins into the retinal cells of blind mice, restoring some visual ability...

5 April 2006
Climate Musings Spark Religious Brouhaha
Researchers at Florida State University speculate that the popular religious figure Jesus probably walked on an isolated patch of floating ice, rather than liquid water...

4 April 2006
Wonky Waves Allow Cancer Cells To Spread
An understanding of how cancers metastasize could be closer, thanks to research into a biological communication mechanism known as cellular waves...

3 April 2006
MINOS Project Detects Ghostly Particles Changing "Flavor"
In an experimental first, an international team of scientists has managed to observe the all but massless neutrino particle transform from one "flavor" to another...

31 March 2006
Solitons Observed In A Solid
Only theorized as possible twenty years ago, a team of scientists say they have observed evidence of solitary vibrations (solitons) in a solid...

30 March 2006
World’s Fish Stocks Face New Danger
Agricultural run-off and pollution are lowering the levels of dissolved oxygen in seawater, inducing sex changes in embryonic fish, leading to an overabundance of males...

29 March 2006
Rats Showing Some Backbone After Stem Cell Treatment
Building on previous successful spinal repair stem cell research, University of Toronto researchers have managed to repair damaged spinal cord tissue, this time in rats...

28 March 2006
Primordial Soup-In-A-Cup
An accelerated in vitro experiment shows how an RNA enzyme develops into a DNA enzyme without losing its original function...

27 March 2006
Not So Fast Einstein!
A quantum theory of gravity could be within reach, as scientists report having measured the gravitational equivalent of a magnetic field...

24 March 2006
All Hands To The Pumps! Here Comes The Sea
New projections suggest that the warming climate could melt the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets much sooner than previously thought, leading to a global sea level rise of at least 20 feet...

23 March 2006
Increasing Soil Erosion Threatens World’s Food Supply
While climate change hogs the headlines, a more insidious threat that is largely ignored is steadily destroying great swathes of the world’s croplands...

22 March 2006
Chimps Command To Conquer An Itch
Counter to previously held assumptions, chimpanzees can effectively command their chimp buddies to perform various grooming tasks using “referential” hand gestures, just like their human relatives...

21 March 2006
When A Spotty Face Indicates A Healthy Partner
Having a big spot on your face is not usually considered an attractive attribute to a prospective mate, but what if the size of that spot indicated the robustness of your immune system?

20 March 2006
Big Problems From Small Avian Flu Mutations
Researchers say that only minor mutations are needed for the binding site preference of the avian H5N1 virus to switch from receptors in the intestinal tract of birds to the respiratory tract of humans...

17 March 2006
Super Strong Artificial Muscles Could Power Next Generation Of Robots
Radical new artificial muscles fueled by alcohol or hydrogen could power prosthetic limbs, autonomous robots and marine and aerospace vehicles...

16 March 2006
DNA Shaped Nebula Observed At Center Of Milky Way
Astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope have observed an astonishing double helix shaped nebula near the center of our Milky Way galaxy...

15 March 2006
The Strange Matter Of Superfluidity
Recent experiments into superconductivity and superfluidity may have recreated the same quantum conditions that occur in the heart of quark stars; stars believed to be comprised of strange matter...

14 March 2006
Standing Room Only In Classroom Of The Future
What’s the most efficient way to tackle obesity in schoolchildren? Take their chairs away and make them stand up, says a Mayo Clinic obesity researcher...

13 March 2006
The Search For Rock
Once it’s loaded up with the spectral fingerprints of all Earth's minerals, a spectrometer similar to the tricorder used in Star Trek will be ready to boldly go where no spectrometer has gone before...

10 March 2006
Geologists Hope To Disprove Asteroid Mass Extinction Scenario
University of Leicester scientists suggest extraterrestrial theories are flawed and that more down to earth factors could have accounted for past mass extinctions...

9 March 2006
NASA Confirms Recent Ice Sheet Losses
Satellite mapping of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to determine how fast the thickness is changing indicates a net ice loss of 20 billion tons...

8 March 2006
Wrong Genes And Coffee’s A Heart Stopper
A cup of coffee in the morning may seem innocuous enough, but some genetically predisposed coffee drinkers may be putting themselves at risk of a heart attack...

7 March 2006
MOF Power
Cars that run on hydrogen rather than gasoline are closer to becoming a reality, as researchers show how significant amounts of hydrogen fuel can be stored efficiently in a remarkable new material...

6 March 2006
Risky Business Explained
Researchers working in a relatively new area of neuroscience have made progress in understanding why some people are more prone to risk taking than others...

3 March 2006
Intra-Molecular Movement Of Protons Observed
Using time-slices of just 100 attoseconds, UK scientists say they can now track individual protons moving in a molecule, paving the way for the direct observation of chemical reactions...

2 March 2006
New Sorting Algorithm Aims To Sift Through All Possible Molecules
A new computer method that relies on a universal property of all molecules could help chemists identify the best suited molecules for new drugs, electronic devices and other applications...

1 March 2006
New And Improved Insta-Nanotube!
Scientists have stumbled on to a way to get nanotubes to spontaneously take shape into complex hexagonal networks on the surface of a layered crystal...

28 February 2006
Getting Eye On Cannabinoids
The growth of excess blood vessels in the eye that can lead to blindness in diabetics could be prevented by a marijuana derived compound...

27 February 2006
Healing’s Golden Touch Explained
For 75 years, gold and platinum have been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, but how these metals performed their healing has been unknown until now...

24 February 2006
Prof Ponders Bacterial Benefits
Could persistent infection from what are considered to be disease causing bacteria actually be keeping us healthy, ponders a Stanford professor...

23 February 2006
Quantum Computer Computes, While Not Operating
Scientists demonstrating counterfactual computation say that “quantum mechanics doesn't get any more mysterious than this..."

22 February 2006
Joining The Quantum Dots
Scientists have found a way to make the artificial atoms known as quantum dots communicate with one another using light energy...

21 February 2006
Carbon Dioxide 1, Coral Reefs 0
If rising CO2 levels are left unchecked, there could be a mass extinction of marine life rivaling the one that occurred 65 million years ago...

20 February 2006
When Efficient Flight’s A Drag
If human engineers had designed the dragonfly’s method for flight they’d likely be inordinately proud. And one scientist thinks that dragonflies could point the way for the aircraft of the future...

17 February 2006
Sex – Evolution’s Janitor
Sexual reproduction is a complicated, biologically costly business and researchers now think they know what it is about sex that justifies such a big energy investment...

16 February 2006
Disco Rats Last Longer On Ecstasy
Italian researchers, experimenting with rats, have found that loud music can prolong the effects of the recreational drug ecstasy for up to five days...

15 February 2006
Bacteria Hysteria In The Supermarket
A new report detailing the levels of bacteria found on objects like shopping carts and computer mice looks set to rekindle public concerns about microbe infestations...

14 February 2006
Scientists Manufacture Synthetic Collagen
Aside from being a beauty treatment, collagen is one of the most important structural proteins in our bodies, which is what makes this new artificial collagen so significant...

13 February 2006
When DNA Turns On Itself
When DNA twists in the opposite direction to its familiar right hand spiral, it becomes what researchers have dubbed Z-DNA, a catalyst for cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma...

10 February 2006
Mice With Self Esteem Problems Help Identify Depression Gene
In mice that were conditioned to be depressed, the absence of a particular gene mimics the effects of taking antidepressants...

9 February 2006
Climate Change Tackled With Constructal Theory
Scientists hope that modeling the Earth’s climate patterns using constructal theory will yield insights into climate change not possible with current models...

8 February 2006
Adolescence Lasts Into Twenties
Just when does an adolescent transform into a mature, responsible adult? A study has found that it isn’t at 18 years of age...

7 February 2006
Lost World Found In New Guinea
An expedition to the remote Foja Mountains in New Guinea has turned up dozens of previously unknown mammals, frogs, butterflies and plants...

6 February 2006
Hot Halo Find Confirms Theory
The discovery of an extensive halo of hot gas around a distant spiral galaxy supports the theory that galaxies are still accumulating matter from the inflow of intergalactic gas...

3 February 2006
Single Electron Switches New Silicon Transistor
International researchers have produced a silicon transistor that is switched on and off by the motion of an individual electron...

2 February 2006
Ritual A Critical Element Of Placebo Effect
Harvard doctors uncovered some interesting findings when they compared the “effects” of a placebo pill to those of placebo acupuncture...

1 February 2006
Turbulent 73 Years Over For Physicists
Scientists believe they can now explain a phenomenon that has baffled physicists for over 70 years - fluid turbulence...

31 January 2006
Global Warming Study Melts Away Blair’s Doubts
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is taking climate change a lot more seriously than his old buddy President George Bush Jnr...

30 January 2006
Soundwave Fusion Rocks On
To silence their critics, an international research team have used sound waves to induce nuclear fusion without the need for an external neutron source...

27 January 2006
H5N1 Vaccine Proves 100 Percent Successful In Animal Tests
A bird flu vaccine created by genetically engineering a common cold virus has so far proven to be completely successful in tests on mice and chickens...

26 January 2006
Metals Shortage Looming
It isn’t only oil that’s running out. Researchers say that a lack of recycling, an insatiable demand from developing nations, and the short lifespan of modern products, mean that metals like zinc and copper may soon be in short supply...

25 January 2006
To Boldly Go Where No Rock Lobster Has Gone Before
Australian scientists claim they have found another use for crayfish (rock lobster) besides a seafood salad. Rather than a tasty treat, these crustaceans could provide a new model for space exploration robots...

24 January 2006
More Evidence Of Our Close Relationship With Chimps
The theory that humans and chimpanzees may be more closely related to each other than chimps are to the other two species of great apes – gorillas and orangutans – has just become even more compelling...

23 January 2006
Houston, We Don’t Have A Problem
Once a spacecraft is in orbit, engineers on the ground have virtually no chance of repairing anything that breaks. But what if the engineers didn’t have to because the spacecraft was self-healing?

20 January 2006
Evolution Makes A Mockery Of Fishing Policy
Fisherman take the largest individuals from a fish population, creating evolutionary pressure that selects for smaller, less viable fish, and because the changes are genetic, they don’t immediately normalize when fishing ceases...

19 January 2006
Researchers Slam Media Over Wrong-Headed Plant-Methane Hype
The scientists behind the study that found plants emit significant quantities of the greenhouse gas methane have criticized the media for “misinterpretation of the findings”...

18 January 2006
Watch Comedies, Avoid Heart Attack
Researchers speculating that positive emotions may have a beneficial impact on a person’s health have shown that watching comedy films boosts blood flow to the heart...

17 January 2006
Darwin's Dilemma Solved?
Two biologists may have answered one of evolutionary theory’s most puzzling questions, by explaining the seemingly random genetic changes that organisms undergo...

16 January 2006
Astronomers Discover Gigantic X-Ray Tunnel
A team of astronomers say they have discovered a giant Milky Way-sized tunnel filled with high-energy particles that may help us understand the life cycle of so-called radio jets spawned from super-massive black holes...

13 January 2006
Direct Observations Of Circadian Processes Reveal New Layers Of Complexity
Using an obscure imaging technique known as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, scientists have directly observed cellular circadian processes and found that the circadian clock is based on other protein clocks that run in six hour cycles...

12 January 2006
Amazon A Desert For Soil Bacteria
Most people would expect the Amazon jungle to be home to a diverse range of soil bacteria, but in fact, just the opposite is true...

9 January 2006
Treated Wood A Long Term Environmental Threat
The arsenic used to treat wooden decks, utility poles and fences will leach into the environment for decades, posing a grave threat to groundwater reserves...

6 January 2006
Dogs Sniff Out Cancer
A new study has found that dogs have an astonishing capability to detect lung and breast cancer simply by sniffing the breath of the patient...

5 January 2006
Carbon Isotopes Reveal Ancient, Abrupt Climate Change
Deep ocean fossil records millions of years old reveal an abrupt and drastic ocean circulation reversal caused by greenhouse gas warming...

4 January 2006
Adolescent Mental Health Studies Cause Alarm
Health researchers are concerned about a huge increase in psychotropic drug prescriptions for adolescents, while another study finds that one-in-five teens undergoing psychiatric treatment may be bipolar...

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