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Tracing The Origins Of French Winemaking

1:33pm June 07, 2013

Many people associate France today with the production of great wines. But winemaking isn't native to the French. Patrick McGovern, an archaeologist of fermented beverages, has dated the beginning of viniculture in France to around 500 B.C. and contact with the Etruscans.

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Bad Diagnosis For New Psychiatry 'Bible'

7:22pm June 04, 2013

The new edition of the DSM, the so-called "Bible" of psychiatry, is out. But many psychiatrists and psychologists say the manual's approach is outdated, boxing mental illness into discrete categories like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, when very little is known about the underlying causes of disease.

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A screen grab from an animation explaining the lung gizmo.

Gizmo Uses Lung Cells To Sniff Out Health Hazards In Urban Air

9:23pm May 31, 2013

by Richard Harris

Scientists are trying to figure out how chemicals in the air interact with each other to make people sick. So they're building an instrument — a "lung in a box" — that goes way beyond the usual chemical monitors.

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Researchers Revive A Plant Frozen In Time

12:09pm May 31, 2013

It sounds like something from the movies — scientists uncover a sample of plant material frozen inside a glacier for hundreds of years, bring it back to the lab, and watch as it comes back to life. Catherine LaFarge describes the work, and what it means for plant scientists.

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Science

With Chemical Tweaks, Cement Becomes A Semiconductor

12:09pm May 31, 2013

With the right chemistry, cement can take on some of the properties of a metal, researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Chris Benmore, a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, explains why a semiconducting cement might be useful.

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Bright charged particles spin along magnetic field lines above the surface of the sun in the image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Solar flares like this one shoot high energy protons and radiation into the solar system.

Headed To Mars? Watch Out For Cosmic Rays

8:42am May 31, 2013

by Adam Cole

The dose of radiation an astronaut would experience on a trip to Mars is higher than the annual limit set for workers at nuclear power plants. But Mars enthusiasts say the radiation threat isn't high enough to cancel the trip.

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Channel-billed toucans are important seed dispersers in rain forests.

Science

Big-Mouthed Toucans Key To Forest Evolution

8:34am May 31, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

As humans have cut into Brazil's forests, the toucan population has taken a dive. The trees, in turn, have changed, too: Without large-billed birds to eat fruit with big seeds, only trees with small seeds thrive. Eventually, one scientist says, "the impacts on the forest could be quite dramatic."

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Public Opinion On The Record Number Of Female Breadwinners

2:21pm May 29, 2013

A study from the Pew Research Center shows a growing number of women are the family breadwinners. In 40 percent of families with children under 18, the mothers bring home most or all of the household income. The American public still has mixed feelings about moms bringing home the bacon.

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Science

Why Do Whistle-Blowers Become Whistle-Blowers?

7:58am May 28, 2013

Management gurus have long preached the value of ethical leadership. In the presence of ethical leadership — but the absence of ethical co-workers — what happens to people's honesty?

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Studies Question Potential Alzheimer's Treatment

2:58pm May 24, 2013

Last year scientists reported that a skin cancer drug appeared to reverse the effects of an Alzheimer's-like disease in mice. But four studies out this week in Science question the original results. Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, talks about the new findings, and the hunt for Alzheimer's drugs.

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