Scientists and engineers will study how to design a telescope on the moon for peering into the last unexplored epoch in the universe's history. There was an interval, now called the "Dark Ages," in which the Universe was unlit by any star.
Scientists have identified genetic markers that allow the selection of eggs with the best chance of leading to successful pregnancy after in vitro fertilization. This finding could both increase the success rate of single embryo transfer and diminish the risk of multiple pregnancies.
After 14 years without having been seen, several young scientists have rediscovered the Carrikeri harlequin frog in a remote mountainous region in Colombia.
The body's first line of defense against pathogenic bacteria that we ingest may not be the immune system but rather the cells that line the intestine. This, and the various mechanisms revealed by this discovery, could lead to important therapeutic innovations, particularly in the treatment of diarrheal diseases and inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease.
The space shuttle is carrying with it an experiment designed to isolate how each component of the low-earth orbit environment contributes to the overall degradation each material specimen. The results will help guide the development of next-generation satellite materials that will be durable in space.
Girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stand a substantially greater risk of developing eating disorders in adolescence than girls without ADHD, a new study has found. "Adolescent girls with ADHD frequently develop body-image dissatisfaction and may go through repeating cycles of binge eating and purging behaviors that are common in bulimia nervosa," said the psychologist who led the study.
Along an isolated, rocky stretch of Greek shoreline, researchers are unlocking the secrets of a partially submerged, "lost" harbor town believed to have been built by the ancient Mycenaeans nearly 3,500 years ago.
New research has uncovered exactly how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae has become resistant to the antibiotic penicillin. The same research could also open up MRSA to attack by penicillin and help create a library of designer antibiotics to use against a range of other dangerous bacteria.
The average temperature across both the contiguous U.S. and the globe during climatological winter (December 2007-February 2008) was the coolest since 2001, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. In terms of winter precipitation, Pacific storms, bringing heavy precipitation to large parts of the West, produced high snowpack that will provide welcome runoff this spring.
Researchers are investigating the remarkable survival of birds in contaminated Indian waters. Ecologists are setting out to discover why flamingos are so in the pink of health, considering their less than pristine habitat.
With obesity still on the increase, it appears that the main weapon in the fight against it -- reducing energy consumption by eating less -- is ineffective. There is evident need to search for new treatment strategies dealing with the opposite aspect of the energy balance: increasing energy consumption. Researchers have now found a way to increase cells' energy consumption: mitochondrial uncoupling. Mitochondrial uncoupling has been demonstrated in human skeletal muscle.
A cocktail of insecticides containing a plant protein and a common insecticide may be more lethal to crop pests than either ingredient used alone, according to biologists. The one-two punch also inhibits the insects' growth rate and reduces their chance of developing resistance.
Transcendental meditation is an effective treatment for controlling high blood pressure with the added benefit of bypassing possible side effects and hazards of anti-hypertension drugs, according to a new meta-analysis. The meta-analysis evaluated nine randomized, controlled trials using transcendental meditation as a primary intervention for hypertensive patients. The practice of transcendental meditation was associated with approximate reductions of 4.7 mm systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mm diastolic blood pressure.
For the first time, astronomers have observed the initial phase in the formation of an earth-like planet. Astronomers observed that a protoplanetary disk, or ring, around the binary star known as KH 15D, is composed of solid particles larger than what is usually observed in space. For hundreds of years, scientists have been theorizing that Earth-like planets form when gas and dust around a star get compressed into these disks and the material begins to coalesce into planets.
