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Mysterious tremors deep beneath the San Andreas Fault near the quake-prone town of Parkfield are shaking the earth's brittle crust, far below the region where earthquakes normally strike -- and scientists say they can't understand what's happening or what the motions mean. Seismic researchers are monitoring the strange vibrations closely. But whether the faint underground tremors -- termed "chatter" by some seismologists -- portend an increased likelihood of a major quake in the area is an unsolved puzzle. Robert Nadeau, a geophysicist at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, charted more than 110 of the faint vibrations since they were first...

No one would argue that earthworms are cute. But to most people, they are benign and helpful creatures — fertilizers of the garden, aerators of the soil, indispensable fishing companions. "Earthworms are truly nature's little farmers," goes one common view, this one on the Web site of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, "plowing the soil and fertilizing at the same time!" But for a growing body of researchers, the traditional view of earthworms is giving way to a much more ominous one. Most earthworms common in the United States are exotic intruders from Europe, Asia or South America, these scientists point...

Parkinson's Gene Therapy Study Begins By MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- Researchers slipped billions of copies of a gene into the brain of a Parkinson's disease patient Monday, marking the first attempt to test gene therapy in a person with that disease. The patient, 55-year-old Nathan Klein of Port Washington, N.Y., said he was "feeling fine" in a telephone interview a few hours after the surgery. Klein said the disease gave him a tremor in his right arm, and made him shuffle and have to catch himself sometimes from falling. Medicines offer some relief, he said,...