The Sciences
Obama's Nuclear Arms Agenda Helps Him Win 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Committee makes controversial choice by giving the nod to a sitting U.S. president in the midst of disarmament negotiations
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Environment
Just How Sensitive Is Earth's Climate to Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide?
Two new studies look far back in geologic time to determine how sensitive the global climate is to atmospheric CO2 levels
Space & Physics
Target Audience: NASA's Friday Moon Crash Offers Plenty of Opportunities for Amateur Viewing
The LCROSS probe and a spent rocket stage will each impact a lunar crater to look for frozen water there
Health
Retrovirus Linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Could Aid in Diagnosis
Recently implicated in some severe prostate cancer patients, the retrovirus XMRV has now been found in many with chronic fatigue--changing the landscape for diagnosis and possible treatment...
Health
Is Life Expectancy Reduced by a Traumatic Childhood?
A 10-year study finds that people who experienced adverse childhood events also lose years off their lives
Space & Physics
Astronomers Discover Solar System's Largest Planetary Ring Yet around Saturn [Update]
A diffuse, newfound ring encircles the gas giant planet at an extraordinary distance
The Sciences
Unraveling the Ribosome: Chemistry Nobel Awarded to Modelers of Cells' Protein-Maker [Update]
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath first determined how to image the ribosome, then revealed how it does its protein-making work
Health
New Vaccine May Immunize Addicts from Cocaine's Pleasurable Effects
Clinical trial data suggest that although pharmacotherapy for cocaine may be on the horizon, challenges remain
Environment
Driving on Glass? Inventor Hopes to Lay Down Solar Roads
U.S. roads paved with glass panels encasing photovoltaics and LEDs would double as a national power grid
Technology
Nobel Prize in Physics Goes to Pioneer in Fiber Optics and Inventors of Digital Image Sensor [Update]
The three researchers paved the way for broadband telecommunications and the proliferation of digital photography
Space & Physics
Sun Down: High-Energy Cosmic Rays Reach a Space Age Peak
A prolonged lull in the sun's activity has allowed energetic particles to penetrate the solar system with record intensity
Medicine
Breakthrough: Bone Graft Grown in Exact Shape of Complex Skull-Jaw Joint
Technique could be a preferred substitute for replacing missing or damaged bones with titanium, donated bones or those harvested from elsewhere in a patient's body
The Sciences
Flashy Fungi: Researchers Still in the Dark over Glowing Jungle Mushrooms
If you stumble upon strange lights in the jungle, it might just be glimmering mushrooms
Biology
Work on Telomeres Wins Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 3 U.S. Genetic Researchers [Update]
Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak are recognized for research into telomeres--a key chromosome component--and the related enzyme telomerase
Technology
The New York City Fire Department to Fight Fire with a Firewall
The FDNY may use geographic information system software to relocate firehouses to meet changing population patterns
Space & Physics
Water Lust: Why All the Excitement When H2O Is Found in Space?
Mars, Europa, interstellar nebulae, and now even the moon all seem to be getting wetter with every observation. But what is it about this simple hydrogen-oxygen combo that makes it the sine qua non of finding extraterrestrial life?...
Technology
New Computer Graphics Systems Give Reality a Convincing Makeover
Augmented-reality technology mashes computer-generated images with real-world sights and sounds
Evolution
Long-Awaited Research on a 4.4-Million-Year-Old Hominid Sheds New Light on Last Common Ancestor
Fifteen years in the making, a dossier of papers on "Ardi" published in Science suggest that like humans, chimpanzees have undergone substantial evolutionary change
Technology
Gaming Tech Aids Scientists Building Virtual Synthetic Chromatophore
Researchers are relying on graphics processing units to help build a highly complex computer simulation depicting how chromatophore proteins create photosynthesis
The Sciences
The Dollars and Sense of Closing Schools for H1N1
As the H1N1 virus picks up speed this fall, economists have outlined just how much it would cost to close schools--hotbeds of flu contagion
