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Male minnows exposed to a widely used diabetes drug ubiquitous in wastewater effluent had feminized reproductive parts and were smaller and less fertile, according to a new study. It is the first study to examine the drug metformin’s impact on fish endocrine systems and suggests that non-hormone pharmaceuticals pervasive in wastewater may cause reproductive and development problems in exposed fish. Metformin is largely used to combat insulin resistance associated with type-2 diabetes, which accounts for about 90 percent of all diagnosed U....

Today’s Internet runs on linked silicon chips, but a future quantum version might be built from diamond crystals. Physicists report today in Nature that they have entangled information kept in pieces of diamond 3 meters apart, so that measuring the state of one quantum bit (qubit) instantly fixes the state of the other - a step necessary for exchanging quantum information over large distances. Entanglement, which Albert Einstein called ‘spooky action at a distance’, is one of the weird phenomena that make quantum devices promising....

Even without sophisticated ocean monitors and computer-generated tsunami forecasts to help warn of approaching waves, some Indian Ocean communities might have experienced less devastation during the December 2004 tsunami had they heeded the tragic lessons of the past. Mounting evidence suggests that humans make themselves particularly vulnerable to monster surges by destroying protective natural barriers-coral reefs, seaside forests and sand dunes-and by building homes in low-lying areas near the coast. Although most such evidence is still anecdotal, many scientists are encouraging officials in tsunami-prone areas to consider such factors when designing new building codes and evacuation routes....

Lafayette, California is a small, affluent town situated in a cluster of rolling hills twenty miles to the east of San Francisco. In 2006, a local anti-war protestor erected a memorial to the American casualties of the Iraq War on one of those hills, along Highway 24 and across from the Lafayette BART station. He believed that he could increase opposition to the war by “remind(ing) people there are lives being lost, families being devastated....

Key Concepts Biology The body Lungs Physics Air pressure Introduction We breathe a lot—roughly 10 times a minute! Have you ever wondered how the process of breathing works so smoothly? Our lungs allow us to inhale the oxygen our body needs, but they do much, much more. They also allow us to get rid of carbon dioxide, the waste product created in the body, and they play a vital role in singing, shouting and even giggling....

With NASA’s New Horizons probe zeroing in on Pluto, due to pass it on July 14, attention of astronomers all over the world is focusing in on Pluto. Let’s leave aside the question of whether Pluto is the smallest planet in the solar system or the largest of the Kuiper Belt Objects, and agree that whatever we call it, the distant world is an interesting and mysterious member of our planetary family....

Starving polar bears are eating one another in the Arctic. Flowers are blooming too soon and dying. The ice caps are melting so swiftly that rising water levels will threaten coastal towns as far away as Florida within several decades. These are just a few examples of the dire consequences of climate change supported by a new analysis in Nature that paints a dark portrait of what a warming world will look like in the years to come....

The spot on the lunar surface where NASA intentionally crashed its twin gravity-mapping moon probes Dec. 17 has been named after the late Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space. The two Grail probes, known as Ebb and Flow, slammed into a crater rim near the moon’s north pole at 5:28 p.m. EST (2228 GMT) today. Their final resting place will bear the name of Sally Ride, who played a key role in Grail’s education and outreach efforts, team members announced....

On complex issues, as is often said, it is possible for intelligent people to disagree. That was certainly the case March 15 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, when five leaders of the space exploration intelligentsia met to discuss NASA’s plans for human spaceflight. The topic of the event, the 10th annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, could hardly have been more timely, given the February budget request from President Obama that sought to drastically change NASA’s direction for human spaceflight and the way the agency does that business....

As computer chips become ever more prodigious in their data-processing capacities, the task of shuttling all those gigabits around inside a chip becomes an increasing challenge. Help may be on the way in the form of photonic components, which deal in pulses of light instead of slower packets of electric charge. For several years researchers have been making so-called silicon optical waveguides, in which light speeds along inside the ridge between two channels as if along an optical fiber....

Key Concepts Foraging Behavior Visual search Search image Introduction You probably have food preferences—perhaps you love salty snacks or detest red meat—but in general, humans eat many different foods. For that reason, our species is considered omnivorous. But some animals are much more choosy. Herbivorous rabbits, for example, dine only on plants whereas carnivores, such as sharks, feast principally on animal prey. Locating these very different types of foods can obviously require different tactics....

By Quirin Schiermeier Almost five years after watching a launch failure destroy their ice-measuring satellite, Europe’s polar researchers are ready to try again. For scientists hoping to understand how polar ice is reacting to climate change–and how sea levels may rise as a result–the stakes are higher than ever. CryoSat-2, the satellite’s second incarnation, is set to lift off on April 8 from a launch pad in Kazakhstan, aboard a converted Soviet missile....

When Elizabeth Kellogg finished her PhD in 1983, she feared that her skills were already obsolete. Kellogg studied plant morphology and systematics: scrutinizing the dazzling variety of plants’ physical forms to tease out how different species are related. But most of her colleagues had already pivoted to a new approach: molecular biology. “Every job suddenly required molecular techniques,” she says. “It was like I had learned how to make illuminated manuscripts, and then somebody invented the printing press....

Suddenly the world is racing to find ways to create cheap, clean energy. A study of the Internet’s long development since 1946, arguably when modern computing began, offers valuable lessons that can help keep energy innovations on course for a comparable 62 years: Hardening of the Categories. In the early days of the Internet there were computers, monopolized by IBM, and there was communications, monopolized by AT&T. The U.S. Department of Justice regulated IBM, and the Federal Communications Commission regulated AT&T....

Cheetos Lip Balm. That’s right, you can purchase lip balm imbued with the delicate flavor of Cheetos. Somehow I lived in blissful ignorance of that fact until quite recently, when I discovered that chemists had pulled off this minor miracle back in 2005. As I pondered the idea of a cheese-puffy lip protector, a flood of memories of never having read Proust rose up within me, and I thought of what marvelous recollections he might have come up with had he ever tasted a crunchy curl of faux cheese delicately lifted from a greasy plastic bag, the junkified morsel staining thumb and forefinger a sickly, artificial orange....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Considering the value the ancient Egyptians placed on enjoying life, it is no surprise that they are known as the first civilization to perfect the art of brewing beer. The Egyptians were so well known as brewers, in fact, that their fame eclipsed the actual inventors of the process, the Sumerians, even in ancient times....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. In the wake of the downfall of the Western Roman Empire and the intellectual collapse of Athens, Byzantine scholars engaged in preserving the Classical Greek language and its literature. Thus they became the guardians of a vanished culture. This article presents the grammatical and literary efforts of a few of the most famous Byzantine scholars, from Arcadius of Antioch to George Choumnos....

Did you like this interview? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Dr. Barry Strauss’ Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine tells the epic story of the Roman Empire from its rise to its eastern reinvention, from Augustus, who founded the empire, to Constantine, who made it Christian and moved the capital east to Constantinople. Highlighting the achievements and legacies of ten Roman emperors, Barry Strauss’ new title examines an enduring heritage and legacy that still shapes the Western world today....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Medical texts from ancient Mesopotamia provide prescriptions and practices for curing all manner of ailments, wounds, and diseases. There was one malady, however, which had no cure: passionate love. From a medical text found in Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh comes this passage: Marriage in ancient Mesopotamia was of vital importance to the society, literally, because it ensured the continuation of the family line and provided social stability....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Once upon a time, in the land known as Sumer, the people built a temple to their god who had conquered the forces of chaos and brought order to the world. They built this temple at a place called Eridu, which was “one of the most southerly sites, at the very edge of the alluvial river plain and close to the marshes: the transitional zone between sea and land, with its shifting watercourses, islands and deep reed thickets” (Leick, 2)....