They provide detailed views of internal organs, but the price is increased doses of radiation.

latimes.com
September 6, 2008
They long knew about the world's smallest snake, which just made its scientific debut. >>

Portuguese officials struggle to halt the spread of pine wilt disease, which is a menace from Scandinavia to Greece. >>

Global warming can't be blamed for the trifecta -- headed toward the Southeast U.S. -- meteorologists say. It's just 'peak season in an active hurricane cycle.' >>

Science Briefing
The 19-square-mile Markham Ice Shelf is now floating in the Arctic Ocean. An Arctic ice shelf specialist says 83 square miles of ice has been lost from shelves this summer. >>

That cheating husband could have a gene variant that scientists have linked to higher risks of marital discord and divorce. (He could even have two.) >>

September 5, 2008
The 48-year-old's death is the third West Nile fatality in California this year. >>

August 30, 2008
Ancient gold wreath found in Greece / Pre-Inca mummy pulled from tomb in Peru / Uric acid linked to hypertension / New Yorkers contracting HIV at three times the U.S. rate / Vaccine helps fight off fatal yeast infection >>

September 5, 2008
The Massachusetts facility, a joint enterprise of Harvard and MIT, had already received $200 million from philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. >>

September 4, 2008
If there is no spending plan by the end of the month, the state will owe $12 billion to government service providers who by law cannot be paid in the absence of a budget. >>

One bill would curb retroactive cancellation of sick patients' coverage. Aggressive lobbying by insurers and doctors and internal feuds among Democrats kill most proposals. >>

September 3, 2008
Though suicides among U.S. adolescents drop a bit after a sharp escalation, the overall trend is upward, a study suggests. >>

September 1, 2008
TELEVISION REVIEW
The new series aims to help children understand the way the real world works. >>

August 30, 2008
Researchers find a greater number and variety of bacteria and fungi in a notable portion of women with pre-term deliveries. The more severe the infection, the earlier they were likely to give birth. >>

Dr. Hugh R. Butt, the Mayo Clinic physician who discovered the role of vitamin K in clotting and developed anti-clotting techniques that paved the way for open-heart surgery and transplants, died Aug. 16 in Rochester, Minn. >>

Dr. Robert F. Maronde, a professor emeritus at the USC School of Medicine whose accomplishments included co-creating an artificial kidney in the late 1940s and developing an early computerized prescription drug system in the 1960s, has died. He was 88. >>

A Caltech bioengineer and an associate film a fruit fly and find that it first jumps away from a threat before taking wing. This means fly swatters should lead the prey like a trapshooter. >>

Books: science and environment

Future shock, a million years from now. Aug. 26.

A paleontologist takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of a London landmark. Aug. 17.

The first posthumously published work by Clarke, co-written with a fellow legend, looks at sexuality, aliens and a long-ago mathematical formula. Aug. 10.

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