Science

An early prototype of the silicon-chip-sized particle accelerator that physicists at Stanford are working on. Eventually, miniature accelerators might have a role in radiating tumors, the scientists say.

Physicists Go Small: Let's Put A Particle Accelerator On A Chip

8:14pm July 18, 2018

by Joe Palca

A tiny accelerator could be useful in medicine as well as basic science. Instead of speeding up beams of electrons through giant tunnels, the aim here is to build accelerators on semiconductor chips.

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Young people who drink heavily may be at risk of fatal liver disease.

A Spike In Liver Disease Deaths Among Young Adults Fueled By Alcohol

8:12pm July 18, 2018

by Paul Chisholm

Deaths due to liver disease have increased among the young — and heavy drinking is to blame.

An autonomous tank is demonstrated in France last month. Leading researchers in artificial intelligence are calling for laws against lethal autonomous weapons. They also pledge not to work on such weapons.

AI Innovators Take Pledge Against Autonomous Killer Weapons

5:33pm July 18, 2018

by Cameron Jenkins

"We will neither participate in nor support the development, manufacture, trade, or use of" artificial intelligence that is used to kill people, leading AI researchers vowed.

Science

Archaeologists Find 14,500-Year-Old Bread

5:09am July 18, 2018

Archaeologists in Jordan's Black Desert found the burnt remains of bread, baked more than 14,000 years ago. It proves people were making bread far earlier than originally known.

Close up of a teenager on her smartphone.

Galileo Would Be Stunned: Jupiter Now Has 79 Moons

7:21pm July 17, 2018

by Joe Palca

Astronomers have found 12 more moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. These moons are all small — just 5 kilometers or less across — and one of them behaves very strangely.

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Science

How To Be A Savvy Consumer Of Science News

6:13pm July 17, 2018

Astrophysicist Adam Frank has a cheat sheet for how to not get overwhelmed or snookered by science headlines.

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UCLA researchers are using a radioactive tracer, which binds to abnormal proteins in the brain, to see if it is possible to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy in living patients. Warmer colors in these PET scans indicate higher concentrations of th

Scientists Hunt For A Test To Diagnose Chronic Brain Injury In Living People

4:04pm July 17, 2018

by Tom Goldman

Doctors are closer to a test in live brains that could help diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease that's been linked to concussions and other repeated brain assaults.

Some critically ill patients who received a CAR-T cell treatment have remained cancer-free for as long as five years, researchers say. But the price is high.

Insurers And Government Are Slow To Cover Expensive CAR-T Cancer Therapy

3:36pm July 17, 2018

by Michelle Andrews

Treatment costs for the immunotherapy can run to more than $1 million. Some state Medicaid programs aren't paying for the treatment, and Medicare's complicated payment rates have hospitals worried.

A tour boat was damaged and 23 people injured when lava crashed through the roof of the vessel off the Big Island of Hawaii Monday.

Kilauea Lava Explosion Injures 23 Tourists

7:53pm July 16, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

A basketball-sized lava bomb slammed through the roof of a tour boat near an active fissure of the Hawaiian volcano early Monday morning, showering the vessel with debris.