en-us jgoss@blern.com (Blern Admin) jgoss@blern.com (Blern Admin) http://blern.com/ http://www.sciam.com/media/logo/SAlogo_144px.gif http://blern.com/5noY2 [More] Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:05:56 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWE8 For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places: Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:48 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWE4 Twitter has arrived. How do we know? It's been hacked like all the other hot social networks before it. (Read: Facebook and MySpace.) The cyber attacks say as much about the growing popularity of the "microblogging" site (messages can't be longer than Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:44 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWE1 Ever take a whiff of a smoker's hair and feel faint from the pungent scent of cigarette smoke? Or perhaps you have stepped into an elevator and wondered why it smells like someone has lit up when there is not a smoker in sight. Welcome to the world of Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:37 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWD4 Make fun, if you must, but it turns out that love may not fade with time, after all --  and leaves a lasting impression in our brains as well as our hearts, according to a recent study. [More] Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:33 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWD3 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:25 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWC9 Drugs currently on the market but used for other purposes helped plump mice shed pounds by upping their response to the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin, according to a new study. Researchers say the findings offer new hope in the search for Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:23 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWC7 The center of the Milky Way galaxy is a forbidding place, dominated by what astronomers strongly suspect is a black hole four million times the mass of the sun. But a new study provides evidence that stars are able to form there, despite the violent Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:17 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWC5 Like wall-hugging geckos, tree frogs are capable of gravity-defying feats of the feet. But new research shows that the two species cling to surfaces in markedly different ways. [More] Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:12 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWC1 Too busy to go to the doctor? Unfortunately, it's the rare one who makes house calls these days. But how about the next best thing? The Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA) next week is set to begin offering doctor consults via Web cam, an Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:54:04 -0500 http://blern.com/5nWB7 The environmental legacy of the Bush administration is a matter of some dispute but by designating three more marine monuments in the Pacific today, George W. Bush has entered the annals of history as the protector of 335,000 square miles of ocean. In Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:53:59 -0500 http://blern.com/5n9W7 Men enrolled several years ago in studies of two different high-blood pressure drugs quickly developed potent side effects, yet the drug trials were not halted. In fact, today both drugs are highly successful money makers for the drug companies, Pfizer Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:23:52 -0500 http://blern.com/5n9W0 People who are bedridden for months at a time may develop brittle bones and become weak as their muscles wither with inactivity. [More] Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:22:22 -0500 http://blern.com/5n9V2 What began as a public relations campaign to encourage people to switch from bottled water to tap water has turned into a brisk business. A year ago Eric Yaverbaum, president of the public relations company Ericho Communications, and Mark Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:21:53 -0500 http://blern.com/5n9U5 The average person is only vaguely aware of whether he or she is wasting energy at home. And most people do not automatically make sacrifices for the common good. Both behaviors can change with a few creative social nudges, aided by clever Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:20:14 -0500 http://blern.com/5n9T2 Editor's note: Marine geophysicist Robin Bell is leading an expedition to Antarctica to explore a mysterious mountain range beneath the ice sheet. Following is the fifteenth of her updates on the effort as part of ScientificAmerican.com's in-depth Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:19:32 -0500 http://blern.com/5n9R9 Every winter and spring, tens of thousands of endangered olive ridley sea turtles clamber onto the shores of Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, along India’s northeastern coast, to lay eggs in one of the world’s most spectacular phenomena--the Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:15:39 -0500 http://blern.com/5moc8 More than half of teens on MySpace discuss or post images on their profiles of sex, drugs and violence, new research shows. But another study finds that reminding kids the info is public may tame the content they publish on the social-networking site. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:25:39 -0500 http://blern.com/5moc5 Apple co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs posted an open letter to customers on his company's Web site today in which he says that he's being treated for an unspecified "hormone imbalance" that has caused severe weight loss and kept him out of Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:25:36 -0500 http://blern.com/5moc1 Doctors today performed an autopsy on Jett Travolta, the 16-year-old son of actors John Travolta and Kelly Preston, who died Friday. The results were not immediately released, but family attorney Michael Ossi told TMZ that the teen died after suffering Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:25:12 -0500 http://blern.com/5mob5 One of the unnerving aspects of astronomy as a science is how astronomers continue to argue over measurements you’d have thought they settled long ago. A good recent example is the mass of our own Milky Way galaxy. Estimates keep swinging back Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:24:59 -0500 http://blern.com/5moa9 [The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] If we want to learn more about our planet and other planets in the universe, we can get some help from stars that are long dead and gone. That’s what U.C.L.A.’s Michael Jura said Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:24:54 -0500 http://blern.com/5mSm0 You’re not supposed to kick a guy when he’s down. Of course, in reality, when he’s down is the perfect time to kick him. He’s closer to your feet, for one thing. But the particular kicking I have in mind should be thought Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:15:36 -0500 http://blern.com/5mSl9 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:15:34 -0500 http://blern.com/5mSl6 [The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] We residents of the Milky Way should have a little extra skip in our step today. Turns out our home galaxy is much bigger and moving a lot faster than we previously thought. That’s what Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:15:33 -0500