Researchers say bye to Washoe
WASHINGTON -- Washoe, the chimpanzee researchers said was the first non-human to acquire a human language, was being remembered by some as a dear friend and an inspiration. Washoe, who died on Tuesday night at age 42 after a brief illness, first learned American Sign Language in a research project in Nevada, according to the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute where she had lived since 1980.
DNA shows ancient cargo:
WASHINGTON -- DNA scraped from inside clay vessels show that a ship that sank off the coast of Greece 2,400 years ago was carrying a cargo of olive oil, oregano, and probably wine, researchers reported on Friday. The new research may offer a way to analyze the long-gone contents of hundreds of containers, said Brendan Foley of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
More false alarms in MRIs
NEW YORK -- Improvements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have led to increased detection of minor brain abnormalities that may worry the patient, but often will never cause any problems, according to study findings reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study involved 2,000 people, between 46 and 96 years of age, with no symptoms of brain disease who underwent MRI between 2005 and 2007.
Sensor offers new uses
CHICAGO -- Researchers have developed a magnetic sensor smaller than a grain of rice and sensitive enough to detect a fetal heart beat, offering the potential for a host of new medical and security uses. The sensor, described on Thursday in the journal Nature Photonics, provides a low-cost and portable way to detect changes in a magnetic field, they said.
No eruption after all?
SUGIHWARAS, Indonesia -- Indonesia's volcano center said Mount Kelud in East Java has not erupted, as earlier reported on Saturday. "There was no eruption. If there had been an eruption, our equipment near the crater would have been damaged," said Surono, head of the Center for Vulcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.