Reuters: Science News

Tiny, long-lost primate rediscovered in Indonesia

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:32:04 -0500

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On a misty mountaintop on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, scientists for the first time in more than eight decades have observed a living pygmy tarsier, one of the planet's smallest and rarest primates.

Stem cells restore hearing, vision in animals

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:12:14 -0500

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells from tiny embryos can be used to restore lost hearing and vision in animals, researchers said Tuesday in what they believe is a first step toward helping people.

Woman gets first trachea transplant without drugs

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:16:30 -0500

LONDON (Reuters) - A Colombian woman has received the world's first tailor-made trachea transplant, grown by seeding a donor organ with her own stem cells to prevent her body rejecting it, an international research team reported on Wednesday.

Bolivian farmer leads to dinosaur discovery

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:16:32 -0500

ICLA, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivian farmer Primo Rivera had long wondered about the dents in a rocky hill near his home. Paleontologists solved the mystery this month: they are fossilized dinosaur footprints -- the oldest in Bolivia.

Spacewalkers tackle station repair work

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:29:55 -0500

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Two shuttle Endeavour astronauts on Tuesday finished the first of four spacewalks outside the International Space Station, part of a plan to eventually restore full power to the growing outpost.

Kangaroo genes close to humans

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:43:16 -0500

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's kangaroos are genetically similar to humans and may have first evolved in China, Australian researchers said Tuesday.

Scientists find prehistoric "nuclear family"

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:01:53 -0500

LONDON (Reuters) - A 4,600-year-old grave in Germany containing the remains of two adults and their children provides the earliest evidence that even prehistoric tribes attached importance to the family unit, researchers said on Monday.

World's oldest polar bear dies at Canadian zoo

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:30:00 -0500

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian zoo officials on Tuesday were mourning the death of what is believed to be the world's oldest polar bear.

Discovery offers way of tracking cancer in blood

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:02:49 -0500

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tiny sacs released from tumor cells and circulating in the blood carry genetic information about the tumor, offering a new way to track and treat the cancer, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

Bacteria, fungus problems? Try copper socks

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:48:21 -0500

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Copper socks? Copper towels? How about copper subway poles? These are only a few of the uses Chile, the world's biggest copper producer, is applying to the red metal now used more in the construction and auto sectors.