Hundreds of circles, squares, and other geometric shapes once hidden by forest hint at a previously unknown ancient society that flourished in the Amazon, a new study says.
Satellite images of the upper Amazon Basin taken since 1999 have revealed more than 200 geometric earthworks spanning a distance greater than 155 miles (250 kilometers).
Strict isolation of households is among the tactics touted by scientists in a new study on how to combat a bird flu pandemic.
The study recommends rapid treatment and quarantine of not only infected people but also their uninfected household contacts. Travel restrictions, school closures, and vaccines were also studied to estimate their effectiveness in mitigating an avian influenza pandemic.
Disease-causing agents and toxic chemicals running off the U.S. West Coast may be killing hundreds of southern sea otters each year in the prime of their lives, scientists say.
Sea otters normally live for about 15 years, but large numbers of dead breeding-age animals have been reported.
Some scientists believe the contaminants suppress sea otters’ immune systems, making the creatures more susceptible to infectious diseases.
Scientists have used a sophisticated computer model to predict how a deadly flu virus might spread through the United States, and how the disease might respond to efforts to contain it.
The results suggest that the U.S. is prepared to contain a virus with low transmissibility but perhaps not one that spreads more quickly.
With the aid of a tiny device that works like the needle on the arm of a record player, a scientist has pumped up the sounds made by tiny proteins zipping around inside a yeast cell.
The discovery is driving the development of a new tool that may allow doctors to detect diseases like cancer by listening to the sounds of their patients’ bodies, said James Gimzewski, a biochemistry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Regular meditation may increase smarts and stave off aging, according to an ongoing study.
The research is one in a string of studies that suggest some time spent getting in tune with the flow of one’s breathing can complement a regimen of pills, diet, and exercise. Meditation is being prescribed for stress, anxiety, infertility, skin diseases, and other ailments.
Heavy rains that drenched parts of the southwestern U.S. last winter and spring will likely drive an outbreak of deadly Hantavirus in 2006, according to a biologist who studies rodents that carry the disease.
Hantavirus causes bleeding, kidney failure, and lung infections. People catch the disease after they inhale infected particles of dried rodent dung and urine. About 36 percent of all reported human cases are fatal.