Science

Scientists Make Killer Flu Virus Even Deadlier

Staff / Truthdig Dec 28, 2011 More than half of the people infected with H5N1 -- the bird flu virus -- are dead, so it's a damned good thing the virus isn't airborne. That is, until now. U.S.-funded researchers in the Netherlands have successfully engineered a viral H5N1 strain that can spread through the air, realizing fears of a potentially weaponized germ that infects easily and kills half its victims. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Chasing Down the ‘God Particle’

Staff / Truthdig Dec 13, 2011 Do you know the story of the Higgs boson? It is also called the "God particle" in scientific circles, although certain conservatives would probably not approve, and it has been a kind of physicists' Holy Grail for decades. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

BP Accuses Halliburton of Destroying Gulf Spill Evidence

Staff / Truthdig Dec 6, 2011 Halliburton just seems to pop up wherever trouble can be found, such as the Bush White House (through Dick Cheney's chummy history with the company) and also in the ecopocalypse that was the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in April 2010. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Astronomers Scope Out ‘Earth 2.0’

Staff / Truthdig Dec 6, 2011 Did you know that astronomers have found a bunch of potential "Earth 2.0" candidate planets scattered around the universe? More than 2,000 in fact, and one in particular, which NASA dubbed Kepler 22-b after the supercharged telescope that spotted it, spins around its own sun just 600 light-years away. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Dutch Scientists Monkey With the Bird Flu Virus

Staff / Truthdig Nov 30, 2011 In what may turn out to be a really bad idea, Dutch scientists have created a strain of the bird flu virus that maintains its 60 percent kill rate and is easily transferred between mammals, and they’re looking to tell the world how they did it. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Why an Unusually Melty Arctic Means Trouble

Staff / Truthdig Oct 5, 2011 Dr. Tom Wagner of NASA is remarkably cheerful as he explains how the historic melting of sea ice in the Arctic threatens to exacerbate climate change across the globe. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Scientists Discover Immune Molecule to Lead AIDS Vaccine Trials

Staff / Truthdig Sep 20, 2011 AIDS vaccine developers said they are cautiously optimistic after a conference this week in Bangkok, where scientists reported molecular observations from the first-ever successful trial of an HIV vaccine on humans that could change the way future vaccines attack the retrovirus. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Scientists Investigate Fish Shrinkage

Staff / Truthdig Sep 19, 2011 Seafood fans beware: You and your appetites may be toying with evolution. A team of scientists is investigating the fallout from overfishing, which causes fish to be smaller and reproduce earlier, and whether these changes are short-term reactions or the result of unnatural selection. (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Miserable Monogamy

Staff / Truthdig Sep 15, 2011 An expert decrees that monogamy is unnatural and unnecessary; Mexican "Indignados" protest President Felipe Calderon's failed "War on Drugs"; meanwhile, scientists have discovered a new "Super Earth" that may contain water. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Scientists to Begin Testing Artificial Volcano to Curb Climate Change

Staff / Truthdig Sep 15, 2011 Researchers in the U.K. will begin an experiment next month that, by imitating a volcanic eruption, could eventually lead to a climate-cooling method that would work by putting sun-reflective particles into the stratosphere. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Earth-Like Planet May Exist

Staff / Truthdig Sep 13, 2011 European astronomers said Monday that they may have found a celestial body with the right characteristics to host life: a "Goldilocks" planet circling a star at a distance that is not too hot, not too cold, but just right for liquid water to exist. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Black Hole Swallows Up a Star

Staff / Truthdig Aug 25, 2011 Scientists say that, for the first time, they have witnessed a black hole swallowing a distant star. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )