Neither increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel nor hikes in the price of petroleum can overcome what one Cornell University agricultural scientist calls a fundamental input-yield problem: It takes more energy to make ethanol from grain than the combustion of ethanol produces.
Dogs blinded by an inherited retinal degenerative disease had their vision restored after treatment with genes from healthy dogs, marking the first successful gene therapy for blindness in a large animal. The treatment offers hope for humans with a similar condition.
Researchers are using nanotechnology to build microscopic silicon devices with features comparable in size to DNA, proteins and other biological molecules – to count molecules, analyze them, separate them, perhaps even work with them one at a time.
An international team of eight "satellite hunters," astronomers who pluck tiny specks of light out of the distant solar system, has discovered four new outer moons of Saturn orbiting at least 15 million kilometers from the surface of the giant planet.
Shortly before the Memorial Day weekend, NASA's mission to orbit and study a distant asteroid presented researchers with a glimpse of the birth of the solar system.
The computer-modeling accomplishment - which is expected to aid the future design of tiny insect-like flying machines and should dispel the longstanding myth that "bumblebees cannot fly.
ATLANTA -- Something really shocking is going on in a microquasar, or black hole, dubbed "Old Faithful," some 40,000 light years from Earth. It seems to be behaving like a giant particle collider, with massive shock waves generating eruptions every 45 to 90 minutes. This is the second time that Old Faithful, the first known microquasar in our galaxy, the Milky Way, has been observed to be acting strangely. Two years ago astronomers presented evidence, from X-ray and infrared observations, that the microquasar is sending out jets of hot gas at close to regular half-hour intervals.
Butter made from milk containing increased levels of a natural fatty acid reduced the risk of breast cancer in laboratory animals, according to new research published today
Twenty-five years ago next week, humanity sent its first and only deliberate radio message to extraterrestrials. Nobody has called back yet, but that's OK -- we weren't really expecting an answer. (November 12, 1999)
