Cleaner fish calms predators with caresses

The parasite-eating fish turns its "cleaning stations" into reef safe havens, not only for itself, but for other species too

3D modelling gets the measure of stone axes

Archaeology is set to become more precise by using imaging software to get objective measurements of artefacts like stone axes (full text available to subscribers)

Solar sail gets another chance for launch

As early as the end of July 2008, NASA plans to test solar sail technology in orbit with a tiny spacecraft called NanoSail-D

Giant rubber snake could be the future of wave power

A flexible water-filled cylinder that produces electricity as it is hit by waves is very efficient and offers benefits over other sea-energy devices

Long-sought Boyhood Home Of George Washington Found

Archaeologists working at the site of George Washington's childhood home have located and excavated the remains of the long-sought house where Washington was raised. The site was the setting of some of the best-known stories related to his youth, including tales of the cherry tree and throwing a stone across the Rappahannock River.

Does This Make Me Look Fat?

The peer groups teenage girls identify with determine how they decide to control their own figure. Also influencing weight control behavior is girls' own definition of normal body weight and their perception of what others consider normal body weight.

China Earthquake Rare And Unexpected, Says New Study

A new analysis of the setting for last month's devastating earthquake in China by a team of geoscientists shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity, and that similar events in that area occur only once in every 2,000 to 10,000 years, on average.

MESSENGER Settles Old Debates And Makes New Discoveries At Mercury

Scientists have argued about the origins of Mercury's smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field for more than 30 years. Now, analyses of data from the January 2008 flyby of the planet by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft have shown that volcanoes were involved in plains formation and suggest that its magnetic field is actively produced

In Vitro Fertilization: New Method Predicts Which Women WIll Get Pregnant

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a method that can predict with 70 percent accuracy whether a woman undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment will become pregnant. The researchers found that four factors - total number of embryos, number of eight-cell embryos, percentage of embryos that stopped dividing and would die, and the woman's follicle-stimulating

Patriotic New Lilacs Introduced In U.S.

The word evokes memories of promising spring days and visions of colorful, perfumed blooms. Lilacs have long been well-loved staples in America's yards and gardens, and have played a storied role in US history.

Women Over 90 More Likely To Have Dementia Than Men

Women over 90 are significantly more likely to have dementia than men of the same age, according UC Irvine researchers involved with the 90+ Study, one of the nation's largest studies of dementia and other health factors in the fastest-growing age demographic.

Einstein Was Right, Astrophysicists Say

Researchers have confirmed a long-held prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, via observations of a binary-pulsar star system. Eclipses in a unique system of two dead stars, called pulsars, has shown that one of the pair is 'wobbling' in space - just like a spinning top. The effect, called precession, is precisely as predicted by Albert Einstein and is thus a new and excitin

New Pathway For Methane Production In The Oceans Discovered

A new pathway for methane production has been uncovered in the oceans, and this has a significant potential impact for the study of greenhouse gas production on our planet. The article reveals that aerobic decomposition of an organic, phosphorus-containing compound, methylphosphonate, may be responsible for the supersaturation of methane in ocean surface waters.

Does Herpes Cause Brain Cancer? [News]

Editor's Note: This story will be published in the next issue of Scientific American Mind.

The deadliest and most common type of brain cancer has a strange bedfellow: cytomegalovirus, a kind of herpes present in about 80 percent of the U.S. population. Now scientists are exploiting this coincidence to treat the cancer with a vaccine that targets the virus and slows tumor regrowth.

Looking at Hydrogen to Replace Gasoline in Our Cars [EarthTalk]

Dear EarthTalk: How is it that hydrogen can replace oil to run our cars? There seems to be a lot of controversy over whether hydrogen can really be generated and stored in such a way to be practical? -- Stephane Kuziora, Thunder Bay,

First Measurements Of The Solar Wind Termination Shock By Voyager 2 Spacecraft

Space physicists report that the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which has been traveling outward from the sun for 31 years, has made the first direct observations of the solar wind termination shock, according to an article in the journal Nature.

Brain ‘trick’ Offers Treatment Hope For Alzheimer’s

Scientists have made a significant step forward in the search for new drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease. An aging population means that neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer's disease, is one of the major health problems in the developed world. But researchers have designed an enzyme inhibitor which could 'trick' the brain and so help to halt neurodegeneration.

Synthetic Molecules Emulate Enzyme Behavior For The First Time

When chemists want to produce a lot of a substance -- such as a newly designed drug -- they often turn to catalysts, molecules that speed chemical reactions. Many jobs require highly specialized catalysts, and finding one in just the right shape to connect with certain molecules can be difficult. Natural catalysts, such as enzymes in the human body that help us digest food, get around this problem

Printed Optical Electronics Come Into View

European researchers have taken a major step towards the goal of developing printable electronics that can be used for creating radio frequency identification tags and flexible watch displays. Researchers have long dreamed of being able to print electronic components directly onto organic materials such as paper, fabrics, or plastic.

Novel Hydrogel Systems For Dentin Regeneration

Dental caries, or tooth decay, continues to be the most prevalent infectious disease in the world, presenting significant public health challenges and socio-economic consequences.

Sleep Problems Associated With Menopause Vary Among Ethnic Groups

Difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep increase as women go through menopause according to new research. Waking up earlier than planned also increases through late perimenopause but decreases when women become postmenopausal.

Lasers, Software And The Devil's Slide

Running for more than 1,000 kilometers along picturesque coastline, California's Highway 1 is easy prey for many of the natural hazards plaguing the region, including landslides.

Resveratrol, Found In Red Wine, Wards Off Effects Of Age On Heart, Bones, Eyes And Muscle

Scientists have found that the compound resveratrol, found in red wine and grape skin, slows age-related deterioration and functional decline of mice on a standard diet, but does not increase longevity when started at middle age. This study is a follow-up to 2006 findings that resveratrol improves health and longevity of overweight, aged mice.

Invasive Treatment Appears Beneficial For Men And High-risk Women With Certain Coronary Syndromes

An analysis of previous studies indicates that among men and high-risk women with a certain type of heart attack or angina an invasive treatment strategy (such as cardiac catheterization) is associated with reduced risk of rehospitalization, heart attack or death, whereas low-risk women may have an increased risk of heart attack or death with this treatment.

Connectomics: Mapping the Nervous System [60-Second Science]

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]

It took 13 years and countless hours of research to unravel the human genome. Now neuroscientists want to do their field’s version. A small group of researchers is advancing the emerging field of what they call “connectomics.” As genomics moved from individual genes to the entire genome, so connectomics wants to tak

Weight Watchers Vs. Fitness Centers

The nationally known commercial weight loss program, Weight Watchers, was compared to gym membership programs to find out which method wins in the game of good health. Researchers examined the real-life experiences of participants to determine which program helps people lose pounds, reduce body fat and gain health benefits.

Two-ton, 500 Million-year-old Fossil Of Stromatolite Discovered In Virginia, U.S.

Scientists have confirmed that an approximately 500 million-year-old stromatolite was recently discovered at the Boxley Blue Ridge Quarry near Roanoke, Virginia. This is the first-ever intact stromatolite head found in Virginia, and is one of the largest complete "heads" in the world, at over 5 feet in diameter and weighing over 2 tons. Stromatolites are among the earliest known life forms, and ar

Breast Cancer: How Tumor Cells Break Free And Form Metastases

When tumor cells acquire the capacity to move around and invade other tissues, there is a risk of metastases and cancer treatment becomes more difficult. Scientists have just discovered how breast cancer cells break the bonds that tether them to the tumor.

Discovery Of Gene Mechanism Could Bring About New Ways To Treat Metastatic Cancer

The molecular and biochemical mechanism of action of unique cytokine gene found to induce potent bystander antitumor effects in animal models and in Phase I clinical trials has been identified. Researchers have uncovered how a gene, melanoma differentiation associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (mda-7/IL-24), induces a bystander effect that kills cancer cells not directly receiving mda-7/IL-24 without

Amorphous Materials : How Some Solids Flow Like Liquids

Scientists have provided the first proof that amorphous materials, also known as soft glasses, deform and flow through a collective movement of their particles. These materials (which include chocolate mousse, shaving cream, mayonnaise, metallic glasses, granular materials and mud) are amorphous solids, in other words, they are resistant like solids but, like liquids, lack a crystalline structure.

Healthy Or Diseased? Analysis Of Body's Metabolism Sheds New Light On The Question

Scientists have shown that biological indicators for diseases caused or influenced by environmental factors can be detected by the systemic analysis of the body's metabolism (metabolomics). The procedure presented here is also suitable for pre-clinical drug testing and allows for the early detection of possible side effects of a new medication.

Music Went With Cave Art In Prehistoric Caves

Thousands of years later, we can view stone-age art on cave walls, but we can't listen to the stone-age music that would have accompanied many of the pictures. Researchers report that the most acoustically resonant place in a cave -- where sounds linger or reverberate the most -- was also often the place where the pictures were densest. In many sites, flutes made of bone are to be found nearby.

News Bytes of the Week--Making Beautiful Music: Why the Stradivarius Violin is Worth Millions [News]

What makes the unique sound of a Stradivarius violin?The wood, of course. Using x-ray images taken from multiple different angles, radiologist Berend Stoel of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands proved that the spruce and maple wood used in five violins made either by Antonio Stradivari or Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù--the rival master luthiers of Cremona--had fewer variati

Some Fundamental Interactions Of Matter Found To Be Fundamentally Different Than Thought

When an atom collides with a molecule, traditional wisdom said the atom had to strike one end of the molecule hard to deliver energy to it. People thought a glancing blow from an atom would be useless in terms of energy transfer, but that turns out not to be the case. "We have a new understanding of how energy can be transferred in collisions at the molecular scale," said Richard Zare, of Stanford

Researchers Are First To Simulate The Binding Of Molecules To A Protein

You may not know what it is, but you burn more than your body weight of it every day. Adenosine triphosphate, a tiny molecule that packs a powerful punch, is the primary energy source for most of your cellular functions. Now researchers have identified a key step in the cellular recycling of ATP that allows your body to produce enough of it to survive.

Who Will Die?: Computer Predicts Which Death Row Inmates Will Be Executed [News]

Capital punishment is legal in 36 states, but that does not necessarily mean all of the condemned will be executed. Some will languish behind bars for life and others may actually be exonerated and set free. Now researchers say they have built a computer system that can predict with 92 percent accuracy which death row inmates are most likely to be executed, a development they hope will lead to

Experimental Philosophy Movement Explores Real-life Dilemmas

Imagine a business executive who thinks: "I know that this new policy will harm the environment, but I don't care at all about that -- I just want to increase profits." Is the business executive harming the environment intentionally? Faced with this question, 82 percent of people polled said yes.

Phoenix To Bake Ice-Rich Sample Next Week

The next sample delivered to NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) will be ice-rich. A team of engineers and scientists assembled to assess TEGA after a short circuit was discovered in the instrument has concluded that another short circuit could occur when the oven is used again.

Why Fly When You Can Float?

As the cost of fuel soars and the pressure mounts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, several schemes for a new generation of airship are being considered.

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