A rigorous analysis of data from studies conducted decades ago suggest that one dose of the hallucinogenic drug could help people stop drinking. It’s the latest work to call for further research on therapeutic use of hallucinogens.
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Robert Siegel speaks with Joseph Kunches, a space scientist with the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, about the solar storm that hit Earth on Thursday.
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The huge solar storm that NASA detected hurtling toward Earth hit our planet at 5:42 a.m. ET Thursday. So far, there have been no reports of major power or communications disruptions. But it’s not the last you’ll hear about solar storms; the sun’s activity won’t peak until 2013.
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The sun ejected two huge solar flares Tuesday, and NASA says that we here on Earth will likely be affected somewhat by the magnetic fields and ionized gas that are now shooting toward the planet. But the phenomena might also bring aurora light shows to residents of the northern United States
The far reaches of Antarctica are no longer visited only by scientists and their support staff. Adventure tourists and curiosity seekers from Europe, North America and beyond now come by the boatful — and they’re bringing some souvenirs from home. Ecologist Steven Chown tells Robert Siegel that visitors unknowingly carry seeds on their clothes and bags. He says they’ve helped spread dozens of invasive plant species on the continent and risk permanently changing Antarctica’s ecology.
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Every so often, pieces of heaven crash into Earth, and Ruben Garcia is looking for them. Aboard his trusty Jeep, the meteorite hunter rides the Arizona landscape, searching for space rocks with a magnetic golf club.
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It’s almost like there’s an image of us accumulating in that Cloud that will become an ever more vivid copy, with information we wouldn’t tell our best friends, our family or our spouse. But the Cloud knows.
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Scientists say they’ve developed a technique that reconnects the severed ends of a nerve, allowing it to begin carrying messages again very quickly — at least in rats. Usually, severed nerves must regrow from the point of injury — a process that can take months, if it ever happens.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says space exploration is a key to transforming our economy and will play a crucial role in American success in the years to come. It “transforms the culture into one that values science and technology, and that’s the culture that innovates,” he says.
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Scientists say they’ve developed a technique that reconnects the severed ends of a nerve, allowing it to begin carrying messages again very quickly — at least in rats. Usually, severed nerves must regrow from the point of injury — a process that can take months, if it ever happens.
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Web browser manufactures often market their products to consumers with an emphasis on privacy, assuring users that their products can better control how personal information is used online. Carnegie Mellon privacy researcher Lorrie Cranor explains that many companies have developed quiet ways to step around some of that privacy-protecting code.
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When doctors autopsied tuberculosis patients, they described finding round, white swellings, especially in and around the lungs. Medical historian Howard Markel describes how those potato-like growths led to the disease being called tuberculosis, from the Latin tuber.
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Reporting in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers write of harvesting electricity from microbe-rich river sediments–enough to power a small LED bulb. Grant Burgess, a marine biotechnologist at Newcastle University, discusses the hunt for electron-burping bugs.
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Bloomberg News reporter John Lauerman volunteered to have his DNA sequenced by Harvard researchers to demystify the process for the public. What he didn’t expect to uncover was that he possessed two gene variants–one linked to rare blood disorders and the other to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.
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Researchers in Italy say a bad connection between devices could explain a startling result they had last year, when they thought they’d witnessed particles traveling faster than the speed of light. Further tests await, but it appears there was a subtle problem with the equipment at the lab, as many physicists had expected. The laws of physics may not need to be rewritten after all.
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Three skiers died in an avalanche over the weekend in Washington state. A fourth skier was caught in the snow slide, but survived thanks to an airbag she deployed from her backpack. Audie Cornish speaks with Doug Abromeit, former director of and now consultant for the US Forest Service National Avalanche Center, about how the air bag works.
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A new NASA satellite captured a massive tornado on the surface of the sun.
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The WHO upheld its guidelines on the safety of hormone injections for contraception yesterday, despite some data that users are at increased risk of HIV transmission. An expert panel says the evidence isn’t solid yet, and at-risk couples should use a second method, like condoms, for HIV prevention.
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In his book Concrete Planet, author Robert Courland discusses why the concrete first used by the Romans is more durable than the concrete used in most present day buildings. Plus, mineralogist Peter Stemmerman tells us about his invention, Celitement and why it is greener than Portland cement.
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The wind power industry in this country has grown fast in recent years, but that could come to a screeching halt if Congress doesn’t renew a tax credit that wind farms get for the power they produce. Tens of thousands of jobs now depend on the tax credit, as more wind turbine manufacturers have taken root in the U.S.
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