science – News Stories About science - Page 18

Victims of Stuttering Study Get $1M Each

Aug 18, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

Victims of Stuttering Study Get $1M Each

Orphans harassed in 1939 'Monster Study'

(Newser) - Five orphans who suffered months of harassment in a stuttering study have been awarded almost $1 million each, the BBC reports. Dubbed “The Monster Study,” it involved Iowa University researchers harassing children to make them develop speech impediments in 1939. None became stutterers, but they filed suit a...

Scientists Breach Einstein's Theory

Aug 16, 2007 11:40 PM CDT

Scientists Breach Einstein's Theory

Photons traveled faster than light, say Germans

(Newser) - Two German physicists claim to have sent microwave photons zooming past the speed of light , a feat Albert Einstein said would require an infinite—and impossible—amount of energy, reports the Daily Telegraph. "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of,...

Gay Brothers Studied for Clues to Sexual Preference

Aug 11, 2007 3:46 PM CDT

Gay Brothers Studied for Clues to Sexual Preference

DNA from 1,000 pairs analyzed for linkages

(Newser) - A team of Chicago-based scientists is conducting a large-scale study of gay brothers to learn more about the genetic factors involved in sexual orientation. Similar studies have been too small to be conclusive; this time, scientists recruited 1,000 pairs—10 times the size of previous studies— to contribute DNA...

Most Dangerous Science Jobs

Aug 10, 2007 2:21 PM CDT

Most Dangerous Science Jobs

Forget toiling in a lab coat—only mad scientists need apply

(Newser) - Science isn't just lab rats and microscopes—how does flying into hurricanes grab you? The most hazardous occupations for you biology, chemistry, and physics nerds:

Astronaut: 24 US deaths since 1961.
Biosafety lab researcher: Handle earth's deadliest diseases.
Hurricane hunter: Fly into tempests to gauge pressure and wind speed.

Physicists Float a New Theory
of Levitation

Aug 7, 2007 7:32 AM CDT

Physicists Float a New Theory of Levitation

Frictionless parts could fly through the air with the greatest of ease

(Newser) - Two Scottish physics professors have published a report on forces of attraction that could be used to make objects levitate, writes the Telegraph. They've engineered a way to reverse the Casimir force, which normally causes elements to stick together. The discovery may lead to frictionless levitating parts in small mechanical...

Climate Change Deniers
Still Impeding Progress

Aug 7, 2007 5:06 AM CDT

Climate Change Deniers Still Impeding Progress

Americans lost in haze of contradictory information

(Newser) - Scientists thought they'd convinced the world it was getting warmer, but a powerful, flush campaign of cynics is still successfully sowing doubt, Newsweek reports—and hobbling efforts to stave off disaster. From its humble beginnings ridiculing any warming, the "denial machine" has picked up funding from big oil and...

10 Technologies on the Cusp

Aug 5, 2007 2:33 PM CDT

10 Technologies on the Cusp

MIT experts look ahead at breakthroughs and brainstorms that may change the way we live

(Newser) - Technology Review presents 10 technologies you'll soon be hearing about.

Peer-to-peer networking as a way for legitimate businesses to handle heavy data streaming.
Nanocharging solar, which could make solar power cost-competitive.
Artifically structured metamaterials.
Personalized medical monitors.
Single-cell analysis.

New Genetic Ties to MS Found

Jul 29, 2007 6:04 PM CDT

New Genetic Ties to MS Found

Findings represent stunning medical breakthrough

(Newser) - Scientists have pinpointed two genes that may be linked to MS, signaling a breakthrough in the fight against the debilitating disease 20 years in the making. In separate studies published today by two medical journals, researchers revealed one specific gene receptor may trigger cells to inhibit the body's autoimmune reaction,...

Scientists Rethink the Bonobo

Jul 23, 2007 10:02 AM CDT

Scientists Rethink the Bonobo

Bonobos are not the solution to all of life's problems

(Newser) - Bonobos—the chimp cousins revered by generations of naturalists for their peaceful, playful, apparently even eco-conscious attitudes—may not be quite as groovy as we've been led to believe. Much of the cult of bonobo has been built around data from animals in captivity, where, as one scientist says, "...

A Megaflood Made England an Island

Jul 19, 2007 8:23 AM CDT

A Megaflood Made England an Island

Sonar shows Channel carved violently; bridge to continent cut

(Newser) - England became an island as a result of a massive flood that tore through a land bridges to France 400,000 years ago, a study of high-resolution sonar images of the bottom of the English Channel shows. The torrent of water and boulders carved the cliffs of Dover, and left...

Trauma Patients Control Memory With Minds

Jul 13, 2007 9:02 AM CDT

Trauma Patients Control Memory With Minds

'Try not to think about it' is good advice, research reveals

(Newser) - Suppressing memories may be as simple as deciding not to think about them, scientists say, offering hope to survivors of traumatic events. Researchers say the findings in a report out today could lead to new treatments for PTSD by offering patients a measure of control over their recollection of disturbing...

Butterfly Evolves in Blink of Eye

Jul 13, 2007 8:20 AM CDT

Butterfly Evolves in Blink of Eye

Parasite forces hyper-speed adaptation in male blue moon butterflies

(Newser) - One of the fastest evolutionary changes ever observed has been witnessed by scientists studying butterflies in the South Pacific, the BBC reports. Blue Moon butterflies managed to fight off a deadly parasitic bacteria by developing suppressor genes to fight the bacteria in just six years. Hard-hit males rebounded from 1%...

Sun Sets on Solar Global Warming Theory

Jul 11, 2007 7:29 AM CDT

Sun Sets on Solar Global Warming Theory

Greenhouse gases the culprit, not sun's heat, experts say

(Newser) - A theory that global warming is caused by increased solar output is bunk, according to climate-change scientists. Although the world has grown hotter over the last 20 years, solar activity has actually dropped, the BBC reports, and an international panel concluded that greenhouse gases are 13 times more responsible for...

Colon Cancer Gene Tagged

Jul 9, 2007 5:23 AM CDT

Colon Cancer Gene Tagged

But the risk isn't significant enough for testing, say researchers

(Newser) - Two studies have linked a specific genetic variant to an increased risk of colon cancer, the BBC reports. About half the population has the permutation, which was linked to a 20% increased risk of developing colon cancer and accounts for 1 of ten cases. But the risk isn't significant enough...

Stereotype
That Women Out-Blab Men
Is Blather

Jul 6, 2007 5:39 AM CDT

Stereotype That Women Out-Blab Men Is Blather

Study silences gender misconceptions

(Newser) - Women do not talk more than men, despite widely accepted stereotypes in popular culture of strong silent guys and chattering females, reports Time. Both men and women use about 16,000 words a day, with women typically employing a statistically insignificant 500 extra words daily, according to the new research.

Ten Worst Jobs in Science

Jul 4, 2007 11:47 AM CDT

Ten Worst Jobs in Science

The less glamorous side of research, from toxic waste to whale feces

(Newser) -

Hazmat diver: They swim in sewage, toxic spills and other undesirable liquid environments.
Oceanographer: With the coral reefs dying, pollutants rising, and overfishing it's just one long stream of bad news.
Elephant vasectomist: With a testicle a foot in diameter, it isn't exactly a walk in the wildlife preserve.

...

Weight a Minute! Stress Triggers Fat
in Study

Jul 2, 2007 4:49 AM CDT

Weight a Minute! Stress Triggers Fat in Study

A nervous mouse is a chubby mouse

(Newser) - A newly discovered chemical connection between chronic stress and fat could help curb obesity— or grow fat in places like breasts for cosmetic purposes, the Washington Post reports. Scientists found that stressed-out mice on a rodent junk-food diet grew the fattest, and that injecting or blocking a stress neurotransmitter can...

Scientists on
the Brink of
Artificial Life

Jun 29, 2007 7:30 AM CDT

Scientists on the Brink of Artificial Life

Synthetic genomes close to creating new bacteria

(Newser) - The first artificial life could be created within months as researchers emboldened by "species transplant" experiments prepare to insert synthetic genomes into a host bacterium, the Daily Telegraph reports. Maryland scientists have been replacing one bacterium's DNA with another, transforming the host into the invader, and now plan to...

House Cat Hisstory Traced to 5 Mideast Matriarchs

Jun 29, 2007 6:04 AM CDT

House Cat Hisstory Traced to 5 Mideast Matriarchs

Felines chose domestic life 10,000 years ago

(Newser) - The origin of 600 million house cats has been traced to five matriarchal lines in the Mideast, where the first wildcats moved close to families some 10,000 years ago and earned their keep eating vermin, the New York Times reports. House cats share striking DNA similarities with wildcats...

Mouse Stem
Cell Discovery Speeds Cures

Jun 28, 2007 4:29 AM CDT

Mouse Stem Cell Discovery Speeds Cures

'Missing link' embryonic cell boosts fight against Parkinsons, diabetes

(Newser) - British scientists have discovered a new type of stem cell in mice that's much closer to human embryonic stem cells, making them invaluable in the search for cures for diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. Two independent teams from Oxford and Cambridge today revealed the "missing link" cells, which can...