Wednesday, 8 February, 2012

Seismic study shows crust thinning as continent divides, giving another view of our restless planet, showing tectonic movement in action, and highlighting a major real-estate investment opportunity.

Synopsis: Each year, as influenza season approaches, medical authorities must scramble to predict which strains of flu will be most important, and then to grow enough vaccine to inoculate the population. Why does this take so much time, and what are some alternative strategies that might speed the process? Find the article: Flu vaccine shortage [...]

A Soyuz crash earlier this year, and the retirement of the space shuttle, imperiled our access to orbit. What is the American plan to return to space? Can other countries or private companies fill the gap?

In African savannas, cattle graze the same grass as zebras, elephants and gazelles. Obviously, wildlife are stealing food from the mouths of cattle, and from the people who depend on cattle. But new data show that in the wet season, grazing wildlife actually benefit cattle!

With the jobless rate still above 8%, what happens to depression, anxiety, brooding? Is job loss worse if you have more education? Could long-term job loss shorten your life?

athogens can change the behavior of their hosts — and now we see that a single viral gene forces a caterpillar to climb a tree before it dies. From that high vantage, the virus can infect more caterpillars. It’s nifty and thrifty, unless you’re a gypsy moth!

After six decades, the Palestine-Israel stalemate seems hopeless. But could that very hopelessness be blocking a solution? A new study of people on both sides of the struggle shows that learning about the peaceful resolution of other intractable conflicts can increase their willingness to compromise – a key to peace.

If conflicts are more common near the equator, what will global warming affect do? A new study shows increases in conflict during el Niño periods — but only during the warm, dry part of the cycle, and only in places affected by these big climatic cycles.

Swimmer Diana Nyad failed to reach Florida, but ultra sports are soaring. Why would anybody bike 500 miles across the desert – or run 135? What are the rigors of training, the satisfaction of finishing, the dangers of competing? Could people be the ultimate endurance animals?

78 million years ago, a pregnant predator of the Cretaceous ocean died and sank to the sea floor. Today, her fossil gives the first proof that plesiosaurs, one of the commonest and baddest marine reptiles of the era, did not lay eggs. It gave birth.