Drug Resistant Gonorrhea on the Rise in North America

The most common STIs in the USA, chlamydia and gonorrhea, are usually easy to eradicate thanks to doses of oral antibiotics, but now gonorrhea is getting more resistant to first line defense drugs.

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Understanding Dyscalculia and How the Brain Processes Numbers

Dyscalculia is a learning disability, which is sometimes called number blindness, and similar to dyslexia, but for numbers. Researchers estimate that as much as 7% of the population has dyscalculia, which can be marked by severe difficulties in dealing with numbers despite otherwise normal intelligence.

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Fear of Immune Response to Induced Stem Cells Overstated

Scientists report that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) have a similar immune response in mice as embryonic stem cells (ES).

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Epigenetics Are Important To Evolutionary Success

Genetic diversity and long periods of time are things that are crucial for evolutionary adaptation. This made scientists wonder why invasive species, lacking genetic diversity, succeed quickly. And some ecologists are beginning to think that epigenetic factors might be modifying genes while leaving the genome intact.

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Babies Begin Learning Language in Womb

Newborn babies only a few hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign one. A new study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought.

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EU’s Carbon Capture and Storage Problem

Europe has a carbon-trading market and tougher emission targets, making it appear somewhat more responsible than the rest of the world at climate-policy negotiations. But recently, the region has fallen behind North America in the effort demonstrate systems for capturing greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants and industry, even as its coal use increases.

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Cathodoluminescence Used to Probe Metamaterials

The phenomenon of cathodoluminescence gave geologists an easy way to identify quartz and other minerals in rock samples. Cathodoluminescence allows a piece of quartz to glow icy blue when put under an electron scanning microscope. Now, scientists have used this phenomenon to probe into nanostructures.

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Happier People Earn More Money

New research indicates that happier people actually earn more money. This comes as a result of a study of 10,000 Americans that showed that those who experienced more positive daily emotions and felt more satisfied with their lives while growing up, earned more income by age 29.

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Dredging Of Canal Could Stir Up PCBs

The dredging of a highly contaminated canal long the shore of Lake Michigan, in Indiana, has begun, triggering concerns that the dredging could release harmful chemicals.

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Wrinkly Fingers Evolved to Grasp Wet Objects

Scientists have discovered the reason why the skin on human fingers and toes shrivels up when soaked in water. Laboratory tests confirmed that wrinkly fingers improve the grip on wet or submerged objects, working away the water like rain treads in car tires.

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