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Killer Whale Evolution Leads to Two Orca Species
03 09 2010 Orcas, commonly known as killer whales, are still evolving, and quickly. Researchers have discovered that two distinct types of orca, a large and a pygmy form, are rapidly diverging, evolving away from each other... from BBC News Online
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Alzheimer's Trade-Off for Mentally Active Seniors
03 09 2010 Mental exercise lets seniors outrun Alzheimer's disease--for a while. Then the race takes a tragic turn for the sharp-minded, a new study finds, as declines in memory and other thinking skills kick into high gear... from Science News
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Has Stephen Hawking Ended the God Debate?
03 09 2010 God did not create the universe, Stephen Hawking revealed yesterday. In the flurry of publicity preceding his new book, The Grand Design, to be published next week, he does some serious dissing of the Almighty, declaring him/her/it irrelevant. The point is, he says, that our universe followed inevitably from the laws of nature. But, we might ask, where did they come from? from the Telegraph (UK)
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Evolution in Action: Lizard Moving from Eggs to Live Birth
03 09 2010 Evolution has been caught in the act, according to scientists who are decoding how a species of Australian lizard is abandoning egg-laying in favor of live birth... from National Geographic News
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Child's Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young
03 09 2010 OPELOUSAS, La. -- At 18 months, Kyle Warren started taking a daily antipsychotic drug on the orders of a pediatrician trying to quell the boy's severe temper tantrums. Thus began a troubled toddler's journey from one doctor to another, from one diagnosis to another, involving even more drugs... from the New York Times (Registration Required)
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Superfast TB Test Slashes Waiting Time
03 09 2010 A new test can accurately diagnose tuberculosis (TB) in people in 90 minutes, compared with the six weeks needed for the current standard test... from Nature News
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Thanks to High-Tech, Storm Track Easier to Predict
03 09 2010 WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- Sophisticated computer models that replaced instinct with cold, hard math have helped forecasters predict where a storm like Hurricane Earl is going about twice as accurately as 20 years ago... from the San Diego Union-Tribune (Registration Required)
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Finding Suggests New Aim for Alzheimer's Drugs
03 09 2010 In a year when news about Alzheimer's disease seems to whipsaw between encouraging and disheartening, a new discovery by an 84-year-old scientist has illuminated a new direction... from the New York Times (Registration Required)
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Astronomers Spot Galaxy Releasing Gassy 'Superwind'
03 09 2010 A striking galaxy buzzing with energetic star formation takes center stage in a new photograph that showcases an unusual "superwind" of out-flowing gas, researchers say... from the Christian Science Monitor
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Forget Mice, Elephants Really Hate Ants
03 09 2010 A nose full of biting ants can really spoil your appetite. Especially if your nose is 3 meters long. African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) avoid this discomfort by refusing to munch on acacia trees that house swarming ant colonies. Their aversion, a new study suggests, helps maintain the savanna's delicate balance between forest and prairie... from ScienceNOW Daily News
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Raw Milk's Appeal Grows Despite Health Risks
02 09 2010 Milk is well known as a great dietary source of protein and calcium, not to mention an indispensable companion to cookies. But "nature's perfect food," a label given to milk over time by a variety of boosters, including consumer activists, government nutritionists and the American Dairy Council, has become a great source of controversy, too... from Scientific American
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Breast, Ovary Removal Raises Cancer Survival Rates
02 09 2010 Preemptive removal of breasts or ovaries in women with two common breast cancer genes can sharply reduce the risk of contracting cancer and dying, even if a woman has already been diagnosed with breast cancer, a new study confirms... from the Los Angeles Times (Registration Required)
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Can Nuclear Waste Spark an Energy Solution?
02 09 2010 A new generation of nuclear power technology seeks to transform one of the industry's most enduring problems--its radioactive waste--into an energy solution... from National Geographic News
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Hackers Blind Quantum Cryptographers
02 09 2010 Quantum hackers have performed the first 'invisible' attack on two commercial quantum cryptographic systems. By using lasers on the systems--which use quantum states of light to encrypt information for transmission--they have fully cracked their encryption keys, yet left no trace of the hack... from Nature News
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Scientists Dispute Evolutionary Value of Helping Relatives
02 09 2010 For the past 46 years, biologists have used a theory to make sense of how animal societies evolve. But in the latest issue of the journal Nature, a team of prominent evolutionary biologists at Harvard try to demolish the theory... from the New York Times (Registration Required)
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Exercise Can Override 'Fat Genes,' Study Finds
02 09 2010 If you've been blaming your weight on your genes, get out and take a brisk walk. It will help fight your tendency toward overweight, a new study shows. Researchers in Great Britain studied 12 genetic variants known to increase the risk of obesity and tracked the physical activity levels of 20,430 people... from USA Today
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Ecologists Fear Antarctic Krill Crisis
02 09 2010 The humble Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) bears a heavy burden. It may be just a small, shrimp-like crustacean, but its sheer abundance makes it one of the largest protein sources on Earth, eagerly sought by fish, penguins, whales--and man... from Nature News
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Navy Yard Will Become Mini-City of Energy Innovation
02 09 2010 Congratulations. You've blown some insulation into the attic, screwed in some compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Perhaps you replaced those old, drafty windows. Energy-saving moves, all of them. But that's nothing compared to what is coming at the Navy Yard... from the Philadelphia Inquirer
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Ancient Coral Reef Uncovered in South Pacific
02 09 2010 An ancient reef found in the Pacific may provide clues to what will happen to coral when sea temperatures rise. A team of researchers from Australia and New Zealand have discovered a huge 9,000-year-old reef surprisingly far south... from BBC News Online
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Psychoactive Drugs: From Recreation to Medication
02 09 2010 From the relaxing effects of cannabis to the highs of LSD and ecstasy, illegal drugs are not generally associated with the lab bench. Now, for the first time in decades, that is starting to change... from New Scientist
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NC Farm Produces Emerald Shaped into Massive Gem
02 09 2010 RALEIGH, N.C. (Associated Press) -- An emerald so large it's being compared with the crown jewels of Russian empress Catherine the Great was pulled from a pit near corn rows at a North Carolina farm... from the San Diego Union-Tribune (Registration Required)
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"Lost" Language Found on Back of 400-Year-Old Letter
02 09 2010 Notes on the back of a 400-year-old letter have revealed a previously unknown language once spoken by indigenous peoples of northern Peru, an archaeologist says... from National Geographic News
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Saving Wild Tigers
02 09 2010 China and Russia have just announced a plan to set up the first cross-border protection zone for the Siberian tiger. There are fewer than 500 Siberian tigers in the wild today, only about 20 of them in China. This international tiger conservation effort will attempt to protect the remaining tigers from poaching and habitat loss... from PRI's The World Science
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Think the Answer's Clear? Look Again
02 09 2010 Presidential elections can be fatal. Win an Academy Award and you're likely to live longer than had you been a runner-up. Interview for medical school on a rainy day, and your chances of being selected could fall. Such are some of the surprising findings of Dr. Donald A. Redelmeier, a physician-researcher and perhaps the leading debunker of preconceived notions in the medical world... from the New York Times (Registration Required)
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Egg Industry Blaming Victims, Critics Say
02 09 2010 No more sunny side up. No more eggs Benedict. No more almost-set scrambled eggs. After of one of the largest egg recalls on record, critics say the egg industry is resorting to the worst tactic of all: blaming the victim. More than 1,400 illnesses now appear to be tied to an outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis definitively linked to eggs produced on two Iowa farms... from USA Today
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