Articles written by malcolm ritter
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 71
By 
Lab test may identify dangerous gene mutations, study finds
NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists say they've found a new way to help determine whether specific genetic abnormalities are likely to make people sick, a step toward avoiding a vexing uncertainty that can surround DNA test results. Researchers used g...
#Ancient? Crisscrossed lines called world's oldest drawing
NEW YORK (AP) — It looks a bit like a hashtag, but it's 73,000 years old. And scientists say this tiny sketch found in a South African cave is the oldest known drawing. It's not the earliest deliberate design; some abstract engravings are far o...
Have you herd? Moose, bighorn sheep pass on migration tips
NEW YORK (AP) — Looking for the best place to eat? Ask a local. Now scientists say that same insider knowledge shapes the springtime migrations of moose and bighorn sheep. Animals learn from experienced members of the herd about where to find the b...
DNA to X-ray: Military has variety of tools to ID remains
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. military remains released by North Korea on Friday will be sent to a military lab in Hawaii, where they'll enter a system that routinely identifies service members from decades-old conflicts. Identifications depend on c...
Gene tests can provide health clues -- and needless worry
NEW YORK (AP) — Last year, Katie Burns got a phone call that shows what can happen in medicine when information runs ahead of knowledge. Burns learned that a genetic test of her fetus had turned up an abnormality. It appeared in a gene that, when it...
Study offers new look at why our brains evolved to be so big
NEW YORK (AP) — Why do people have such big brains? Some researchers asked a really powerful brain — a computer — and got back a surprising answer. In relation to body size, our brains are huge, about six times larger than one would expect from...
Hawking's last physics paper argues for a 'simpler' cosmos
NEW YORK (AP) — Weeks after his death, physicist Stephen Hawking has delivered his last thoughts about the nature of the cosmos, and he says it may be simpler than often believed. Well, simpler if you understand theoretical physics, anyway. It r...
Parenting of the future: Many embryos, each with DNA profile
NEW YORK (AP) — So you want to have a baby. Would you like a dark-haired girl with a high risk of someday getting colon cancer, but a good chance of above-average music ability? Or would you prefer a girl with a good prospect for high SAT scores a...
Stone tools from Kenya give early glimpse of human behavior
NEW YORK (AP) — Stone tools and other items from ancient sites in Kenya give a glimpse at the emergence of some key human behaviors, perhaps including a building of relationships with distant neighbors, new research says. Scientists can't be sure w...
Bones found in 1940 seem to be Amelia Earhart's, study says
NEW YORK (AP) — Bones found in 1940 on a western Pacific Ocean island were quite likely to be remains from famed aviator Amelia Earhart, a new analysis concludes. The study and other evidence "point toward her rather strongly," University of Tennesse...
Science Says: European art scene began with Neanderthals
NEW YORK (AP) — From the murky depths of Spanish caves comes a surprising insight: Neanderthals created art. That's been proposed before, but experts say two new studies finally give convincing evidence that our evolutionary cousins had the b...
Stone tools in India suggest earlier human exit from Africa
NEW YORK (AP) — Just a week after scientists reported evidence that our species left Africa earlier than we thought, another discovery is suggesting the date might be pushed back further. Homo sapiens arose in Africa at least 300,000 years ago and l...
Scientists successfully clone monkeys; are humans up next?
NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time, researchers have used the cloning technique that produced Dolly the sheep to create healthy monkeys, bringing science an important step closer to being able to do the same with humans. Since Dolly's birth in 1...
Ancient DNA gives glimpse of ancestors of Native Americans
NEW YORK (AP) — DNA from an infant who died in Alaska some 11,500 years ago is giving scientists the best look yet at the genetics of the ancestors of today's native peoples of the Americas. Decoding the infant's complete set of DNA let r...
Ancient penguin was as big as a (human) Pittsburgh Penguin
NEW YORK (AP) — Fossils from New Zealand have revealed a giant penguin that was as big as a grown man, roughly the size of the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The creature was slightly shorter in length and about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) h...
Slow flow of human immigration may have doomed Neanderthals
NEW YORK (AP) — What killed off the Neanderthals? It's a big debate, and now a study says that no matter what the answer, they were doomed anyway. Our close evolutionary cousins enjoyed a long run in Europe and Asia, but they disappeared about 4...
Some flowers create blue halo to say hello to foraging bees
NEW YORK (AP) — Some flowers have found a nifty way to get the blues. They create a blue halo, apparently to attract the bees they need for pollination, scientists reported Wednesday. Bees are drawn to the color blue, but it's hard for flowers to mak...
Nobel-winning technique like "Google Earth for molecules"
NEW YORK (AP) — Three researchers won a Nobel Prize on Wednesday for developing a microscope technique that lets scientists see exquisite details of the molecules that drive life — basically providing a front-row seat to study these tiny per...
Biological clock discoveries by 3 Americans earn Nobel prize
NEW YORK (AP) — Three Americans won a Nobel Prize on Monday for discovering key genetic "gears" of the body's 24-hour biological clock, the mechanism best known for causing jet lag when it falls out of sync. Problems with our body clock have also bee...
Feeling old? DNA supports an early evolution of our species
NEW YORK (AP) — A study of DNA from African fossils is providing new evidence that our species is a lot older than scientists had shown. It concludes Homo sapiens had appeared by at least 260,000 to 350,000 years ago. That fits with a fossil f...
Babies try harder when they see you sweat, research shows
NEW YORK (AP) — If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Especially if a baby is watching. Children around 15 months old can become more persistent in pursuing a goal if they've just seen an adult struggle at a task before succeeding, a new s...
Scientists: Ash tree species pushed to brink of extinction
NEW YORK (AP) — Five prominent species of ash tree in the eastern U.S. have been driven to the brink of extinction from years of lethal attack by a beetle, a scientific group says. Tens of millions of trees in the U.S. and Canada have already s...
3 scientists, Planned Parenthood win Lasker medical prizes
NEW YORK (AP) — Two scientists who paved the way for widely used vaccines and another who discovered key players in cell growth have been awarded prestigious medical research awards. The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation also announced Wednesday t...
Science Says: DNA test results may not change health habits
NEW YORK (AP) — If you learned your DNA made you more susceptible to getting a disease, wouldn't you work to stay healthy? You'd quit smoking, eat better, ramp up your exercise, or do whatever else it took to improve your odds of avoiding maladies li...
Scientists build DNA from scratch to alter life's blueprint
NEW YORK (AP) — At Jef Boeke's lab, you can whiff an odor that seems out of place, as if they were baking bread here. But he and his colleagues are cooking up something else altogether: yeast that works with chunks of man-made DNA. Scientists have lo...
