Science

One rationale for extending Medicaid coverage to more people is to help them get to a doctor or clinic before a minor illness becomes a medical emergency.

Spike In ER, Hospital Use Short-Lived After Calif. Medicaid Expansion

2:02pm October 17, 2014

by Lisa Aliferis

Previous research found that going on Medicaid increased a poor person's use of costly emergency room visits. Now an analysis suggests that initial spike in ER visits quickly tapers off.

New Jersey cities and towns are planning for future storms and counting on federal dollars to jump start massive flood defense projects.

N.J. Braces For Future Disasters By Fleeing, And Fortifying, The Coast

12:58pm October 17, 2014

by Franklyn Cater

Federal funds are supporting two different disaster-prevention approaches — coastal retreat, or people leaving flood zones, and coastal defense, or building infrastructure to protect at-risk areas.

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Isabella Beukes, of Santa Rosa, Calif., has been legally blind for more than 40 years. An experimental treatment derived from embryonic stem cells seems to have enabled her now to see not just color but also some shapes.

Embryonic Stem Cells Restore Vision In Preliminary Human Test

11:39am October 17, 2014

by Rob Stein

Cells derived from embryos appear to have improved vision in more than half of the 18 patients who had become legally blind because of two progressive, currently incurable eye diseases.

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An Indian groundnut vendor waits for customers.

A Balanced Diet For World Food Day: Bugs, Groundnuts And Grains

9:47am October 17, 2014

Termites and mung beans are among the ingredients that can bring better nutrition to the 800 million undernourished people in the lower-income world.

Apples were beginning to ripen Aug. 26 on trees at Carter Hill Orchard in Concord, N.H.

Science

Startup's New Sprays Promise Longer-Lasting Fruit, Fewer Pesticides

8:08am October 17, 2014

by Nathan Siegel

Apeel Sciences hopes its products, which use natural methods to fend off pests and oxidization, can markedly reduce the amount of produce wasted because of spoilage.

Corn farmer Jerry McCulley sprays the weedkiller glyphosate across his cornfield in Auburn, Ill., in 2010. An increasing number of weeds have now evolved resistance to the chemical.

New GMOs Get A Regulatory Green Light, With A Hint Of Yellow

7:01pm October 15, 2014

by Dan Charles

Farmers will be able to plant types of corn and soybeans that can tolerate doses of two weedkillers. It may be one of the most significant developments the world of weedkilling in more than a decade.

SXSW Eco attendees at the welcome dinner at Springdale Farms in East Austin on Oct. 6.

SXSW Eco, Hub Of Environmental And Foodie Fervor

1:24pm October 15, 2014

by Eliza Barclay

Like its parent music, film and interactive festival, this conference is all about networking, which means parties. The young crowd takes full advantage of Austin's food trucks and bars.

Study Finds Human Stem Cells May Help To Treat Patients

6:37am October 15, 2014

by Rob Stein

For the first time, scientists are reporting that human embryonic stem cells may be helping treat patients — in one instance, the cells seem to been enabling some blind people to see better.

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This photo released by Vandenberg Air Force Base on Monday shows the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, the Air Force's unmanned, reusable space plane, after it landed at Vandenberg from a previous orbital mission.

Secret U.S. Space Plane To Land After 22 Months In Orbit

8:59pm October 14, 2014

by Scott Neuman

There are many theories about what exactly the unmanned X-37B is doing as it circles the Earth on long-duration missions.

Long After Fracking Stops, The Noise Lives On

7:52pm October 14, 2014

by Marie Cusick

Most of the noise created by natural gas development is temporary. After drilling and fracking, the workers and equipment are gone. But compressor stations can stay noisy for years — even decades.

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