Tuesday, 22 May, 2012

If scientists agree that the globe is warming, aren’t hot, dry spells more evidence of warming? Yes, but. Last year’s Texas heat wave showed a blend of climate change and natural variation. More on the search for the fingerprints of global warming.

Bacteria can help or harm their hosts. Now we hear how one genus of bacteria can multiply fly reproduction. In this symbiosis, both parties benefit. This bacterium also alters insect immunity, and could lead to new tactics for killing horrific parasites.

Do you know? Hospitals run out of anesthetics, antibiotics and cancer drugs. Why?

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.

With space shuttles in museums, what is the near-term 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.