Midwesterners have to be wondering: Will April be the cruelest month? Patterns in the Midwest this spring are eerily reminiscent of 1993 and 1994, back-to-back years of serious flooding. Despite the similarity, and periods of flooding nearly every year after those flood years, one thing Midwesterners have not learned is "geologic reality," says one professor of earth and planetary sciences.
Natural sugars found in breast milk that are now included in prebiotic foods may help in the fight against Salmonella and other food poisoning bacteria. The sugars, or oligosaccharides, are called galacto-oligosaccharides and are already known to improve the health of breast-fed infants. They may also reduce the chances of Salmonella bacteria damaging the gut during a food poisoning episode, reducing the overall damage and severity of the infection.
Modern agriculture and land-use practices may lead to major disruptions of the world's water flows, with potentially sudden and dire consequences for regions least able to cope with them researchers have warned. Recent outbreaks of toxic algae blooms in Quebec lakes and off Sweden's Baltic Sea coast are prime examples of ecosystem flips, the consequence of nutrients from fertilizers permeating the soil and running off into streams, lakes and oceans.
Birds and bees may do it, but the microscopic animals called bdelloid rotifers seem to get along just fine without sex, thank you. What's more, they have done so over millions of years of evolution, resulting in at least 370 species. These hardy creatures somehow escape the usual drawback of asexuality -- extinction -- and researchers are finding out how.
The anti-obesity medication rimonabant showed mixed results in slowing progression of coronary artery disease in patients with abdominal obesity and pre-existing coronary disease, according to a new study.
Current medications for seizures are comparable to over-the-counter cold and flu remedies: They block symptoms, but don't significantly affect the underlying illnesses that cause them. Now scientists have taken the first step toward developing another option. They've used a drug to prevent the brain abnormalities that lead to seizures in mice with an inherited form of epilepsy.
Reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide over the coming century will be more challenging than society has been led to believe, according recent research.
Using the most sensitive images ever obtained with the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope, astronomers have found convincing evidence that galaxies which look old early in the history of the Universe reside in enormous clouds of invisible dark matter and will eventually evolve into the most massive galaxies that exist in the present day.
A long-term study of twins has led researchers to find potential links between Hodgkin lymphoma and levels of an immune response protein (interleukin-12).
Two common inherited genetic variations are associated with increased risk of lung cancer for smokers and former smokers. While all smokers and former smokers are at higher risk for lung cancer, less than 20 percent of these "ever smokers" eventually develop the disease. The genetic variations might help identify smokers at higher lung cancer risk who would be the best candidates for screening.
Swedish archaeologists find a rare hoard of Viking-age silver Arab coins near Stockholm's international airport. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 12:35 pm
The first hydrogen-powered aircraft is successfully tested in the skies above Spain, its makers say. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 10:56 am
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Wreck hunters released the first images of a sunken Australian warship on Friday, showing damage caused by shelling from a German ship during their World War II battle in the Indian Ocean.
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has started culling over 300,000 chickens and other poultry after confirming an outbreak of highly virulent bird flu at a farm in the southwest -- its first case in 13 months, the country's farm ministry said.
Global temperatures will drop slightly this year due to the effects of La Nina, UN meteorologists say. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 4 Apr 2008 | 12:42 am
Bill goes further than the White House had asked however Senate opposition will come from both parties Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 3 Apr 2008 | 11:10 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An ambitious vision to take people to the moon and Mars may fall apart before it even gets off the ground because of uncertain planning and inadequate funding, several experts said on Thursday.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Several strains of bacteria in the soil can make a meal of the world's most potent antibiotics, researchers said on Thursday, in a startling finding that illustrates the extent to which these germ-fighting drugs are losing the war against superbugs.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using written symbols such as hearts, arrows and hands, the ancient Aztecs maintained an arithmetic system that was far more complex than previously understood, scientists said on Thursday.
PARIS (Reuters) - A European supply vessel carrying over five tons of freight docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday in a major advance for Europe's space program.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - DNA from ancient human feces found in a cave in Oregon provides biological verification that people were in North America 14,000 years ago, researchers said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bats play a bigger role than birds do in controlling tropical insects, and the loss of bats might mean that morning cup of coffee gets more expensive, researchers said on Thursday.
More than 700 exhibitors, from 45 countries, are presenting at the 36th International Exhibition of Invention – the world's largest expo devoted to innovation. Here we present a selection of the inventors and their contraptions ... Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 3 Apr 2008 | 3:56 pm
The government's draft Marine Bill pledges better protection for wildlife, and a right to roam around the coastline. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 3 Apr 2008 | 3:11 pm
Europe's sophisticated new space freighter, the ATV, attaches itself to the International Space Station. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 3 Apr 2008 | 2:59 pm
The idea that the Earth's climate is determined by Sun activity and cosmic rays is discredited by UK scientists. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 3 Apr 2008 | 1:04 pm
