Good news for potheads making their annual trek to Black Rock, Nev., this week to celebrate Burning Man: A new study says that marijuana appears to fight infections. According to research published in the Journal of Natural Products, the five most common cannabinoid compounds in weed--tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol, cannabigerol, cannabinol and cannabichromene--can kill antibiotic-resista...

For the second year in a row, the fabled Northwest Passage has opened in the Arctic--thanks to a sea-ice melt that has already shrunk the polar cap to the second smallest extent ever recorded. And with a few more weeks to go in the summer thaw season, 2008 could surpass 2007 as the smallest amount of sea ice on record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). [More]

Veteran journalist Merrill Goozner, director of the Integrity in Science project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, discusses his series of articles for SciAm.com on the rise of tuberculosis in Russia. Plus, we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Web sites mentioned in this episode include www.gooznews.com; www.snipurl.com/gooznerThe text transcript is current...

Can one neuron release more than one neurotransmitter?--Marvin Shrewsbury, Wailuku, Hawaii [More]

Do you have an affinity for technology? Did you do well in civics class? Are you free on November 4? If you meet all of these criteria, then you might feel compelled to take a temporary job on Election Day this year as a volunteer election site worker or an electronic voting machine technician.That's the message being sent out by groups concerned about the integrity of the upcoming presidential el...

The first results from a powerful gamma-ray telescope launched into orbit earlier this summer show it is on track to unlock new secrets of the most energetic explosions in the universe. That was the message from NASA researchers speaking at a teleconference this afternoon to present the findings and to announce the mission's new name. [More]

The use of microchips to track people (such as those embedded in hospital wristbands) and products (those uncomfortable tags on clothing that have to be cut off prior to wearing) has come under fire from civil rights groups who claim that big corporations are using this technology as a tool for spying. But what about when these tags are embedded in people themselves, rather than the things they we...

This is the third article in the Mind Matters series on the neuroscience behind visual illusions.The eyes are the windows to the soul. This fact is why we ask people to look us in the eye and tell us the truth. Or why we get worried when someone gives us the evil eye or has a wandering eye. Our everyday language is full of expressions that refer to where people around us are looking. Particularly ...

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] Don't be fooled by those big bovine eyes and the mouth slowly chewing cud--cows have a magnetic personality. At least that’s the claim made by German researchers in the August 26th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using Google Earth images, the scientists looked down on over 8,000 cattle around the worl...

By picking Joe Biden as a running mate, Barack Obama may have reassured the electorate about his lack of experience and foreign policy bona fides, according to some pundits. But the coal-state senator may have also taken a step toward shoring up his enviro cred.The Delaware senator is as serious as a heart attack about energy policy--a point The Wall Street Journal's Jeffrey Ball made this weekend...

Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the National Football League Player's Association--the union for NFL players--died late Wednesday evening of pancreatic cancer while vacationing in California's Lake Tahoe. Doctors diagnosed the 63-year-old Hall of Fame offensive lineman with the disease just four days earlier.[More]

The Pentagon's hope of having a squadron of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) capable of staying in the air and performing surveillance for years rather than hours recently took a small step forward. Working with U.K.-based idea factory QinetiQ Group PLC, researchers from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) managed to keep the solar-powered Zephyr high-altitude, long-endurance a...

HER FINALIST YEAR: 1958HER FINALIST PROJECT: Figuring out the concentrations of different gases in the atmosphere [More]

View the Treating TB in Russia Slide Show [More]

TOMSK, RUSSIA--Misha K.--ex-con, ex-drug abuser, family man--arrived promptly at 4 P.M. forhis daily dose of antibiotics. He is fighting his second bout with tuberculosis (TB), both times caught while serving a four-yearprison term in this small city at the edge of Siberia. His crime: pettythievery to support his drug habit.The first time, prison doctors puthim on a nine-month regimen of antibioti...

TOMSK, RUSSIA--After a half centuryof neglect, a search for better drugs and diagnostics to treat tuberculosis (TB) is underway. But progress is slow, andthe breakthroughs that will help reduce the global burden of TB remainyears away.The modern diagnostics lab under constructionin this Siberian capital is a good example. It will shorten the timeit takes to identify a case of multidrug resistant (...

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] For accurate weather forecasting and climate analysis, researchers need the best models possible about how the air circulates above the earth. And a new study is challenging the conventional picture of the planet’s air movements. Previous theories pointed to two large circular systems--air rises at the warm equator and th...

 [Below is the original script. But a few changes may have been made during the recording of this audio podcast.] [More]

A new study from the Earth Institute at Columbia University says there’s more seismic activity around the Big Apple than previously thought. Researchers also say they discovered a new active fault line running from Stamford, Conn., 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) west toward the Hudson River. There, this underground fault intersects with another fault line.Sitting on top of that intersection is t...

An experimental, build-it-yourself Velocity 173 RG aircraft crashed into the living room of a house in Las Vegas Friday morning shortly after takeoff from the North Las Vegas airport, killing the pilot and two people inside the home, the AP reports. The pilot and one resident of the house died at the crash site, while the other died after being taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas. The ...

Are we closing in on laptops that can recharge without those annoying power cords? [More]

Dear EarthTalk: Can those energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs that are popular now cause headaches because of the flickering they do? I converted my whole house over last fall and both my kids were complaining of headaches on and off.-- Sandy, Eugene, OR [More]

As long as people have engaged in private conversations, eavesdroppers have tried to listen in. When important matters were discussed in parlors, people slipped in under the eaves--literally within the “eaves­drop”--to hear what was being said. When conversations moved to telephones, the wires were tapped. And now that so much human activity takes place in cyberspace, spies have in...

What if the best way to conquer obesity is to have fat injected into your stomach?According to two studies in Nature, that may be the future of weight loss treatments--provided you use the right kind of fat. [More]

If you live in a state bordering Canada or Mexico, you may soon be given an opportunity to carry a very high tech item: a remotely readable driver’s license. Designed to identify U.S. citizens as they approach the nation’s borders, the cards are being promoted by the Department of Homeland Security as a way to save time and simplify border crossings. But if you care about your safety a...