Nuclear power has advantages, but, if this method of making power is to be viable long term, discovering new solutions to radioactive waste disposal and other problems are critical. Chemists are now focusing on metal sulfide materials as a possible source for nuclear waste remediation methods. The new material is extremely successful in removing strontium from a sodium-heavy solution, which has concentrations similar to those in real liquid nuclear waste.

  Positive results have been found in a pilot clinical trial of a treatment for amblyopia, or "lazy eye." The treatment was effective on 20-year-old subjects. Amblyopia is normally considered mostly irreversible after age eight. Many amblyopes, especially in developing countries, are diagnosed too late for conventional treatment with an eye patch. The disorder affects about nine million people in the U.S. alone.

  One of the most comprehensive investigations done to date on aromatherapy failed to show any improvement in either immune status, wound healing or pain control among people exposed to two often-touted scents. While one of two popular aromas touted by alternative medicine practitioners -- lemon -- did appear to enhance moods positively among study subjects, the other -- lavender -- had no effect on reported mood, based on three psychological tests.

  Scientists have identified a new genetic marker of risk for breast cancer. Women with this DNA variation are at a 1.4 times greater risk of developing breast cancer compared to those without the variation.

  Scientists have for the first time succeeded in monitoring electron transfer by Complex I in real time. In the future, this work might, for example, have medical relevance, because most of the maternally inherited so-called mitochondrial diseases are caused by dysfunction of Complex I.

  Older men with lower free testosterone levels in their blood appear to have higher prevalence of depression, according to a new article. Women are more likely to be depressed than men until age 65, when sex differences almost disappear. Several studies have suggested that sex hormones might be responsible for this phenomenon.

  Researchers have designed a small molecule that is highly effective in cell cultures at inhibiting the interaction between the protein p53 and another protein that inactivates p53 in cancer. The new molecule is ideal for drug development as it can be given orally as a pill and it appears to be safe for use in animals.

  A small, three-week trial of tamoxifen, a drug typically used to treat breast cancer, indicates that it also may decrease symptoms of mania in patients with bipolar disorder, according to a new article.

  In the ever more complex world of computer games, developers are constantly looking for new ways to make the playing experience more life-like. One problem that had remained unsolved was how to quickly simulate the gradation of shadows caused by indirect light bouncing off objects -- until a recent breakthrough. A new method can be used to model the path of light as it bounces off surfaces. Graphics are now far more realistic, with more variation in shade on an object, and hues of reflected light adding extra detail.

  A toxic pollutant spread by oil spills, forest fires and car exhaust is also present in cigarette smoke, and may represent a second way in which smoking delays bone healing, according to new research.

  Researchers studying bacteria capable of generating electricity have discovered that riboflavin (commonly known as vitamin B-2) is responsible for much of the energy produced by these organisms.

  Testosterone appears to protect people against eating disorders, providing further evidence that biological factors -- and not just social influences -- are linked to anorexia and bulimia.

  Three-billion year-old zircon microcrystals found in northern Ontario are proving to be a new record of the processes that form continents and their natural resources, including gold and diamonds. Measuring no more than the width of a human hair, the 200-million-year growth span of these ancient microcrystals is longer than any previously discovered.

  In a rare, large-scale study of traumatic brain injury patients who span the full range of severity from mild to moderate and severe, researchers have found that the more severe the injury, the greater the loss of brain tissue, particularly white matter.