Pub workers in Scotland breathed easier and showed better respiratory health shortly after a nationwide ban on smoking inside public spaces went into effect. (p. 243)

A drug sometimes used to induce abortions can stem bleeding after childbirth. (p. 243)

Researchers have devised a way to sort carbon nanotubes by size and electronic properties. (p. 244)

In high dimensions, disorderly arrangements of spheres pack together more densely than orderly arrangements do. (p. 244)

Two separate goat lineages inhabited the same site in southwestern Europe about 7,000 years ago, indicating that the extensive transport and mixing of domesticated goats began shortly after the origins of farming in the Near East. (p. 245)

Male prairie dogs get so distracted during mating season that predators find them easy pickings. (p. 245)

Little or no sediment has accumulated on a broad patch of ocean bottom in the remote South Pacific, the result of a combination of factors that probably can't be found anywhere else on Earth. (p. 246)

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to a researcher who determined the structure, in atomic detail, of RNA polymerase taken from yeast cells. (p. 246)

An erupting star near the outskirts of the Milky Way has become one of the most puzzling objects in the galaxy. (p. 248)

By notching up a tumor's temperature a few degrees, scientists are boosting the power of radiation, chemotherapy, and cancer vaccines. (p. 250)

A mineral that formed in some lakes during a lengthy and particularly warm period in Earth's past suggests that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide were at that time at least triple those found in today's air. (p. 253)

The ability to control selfish impulses in order to reject an unfair deal depends on a specific right brain area. (p. 253)

Research on how nanotechnology affects human health and the environment must be expanded, a National Research Council report concludes. (p. 253)

An antibiotic typically used to fight sinus infections shows remarkable potency against leprosy. (p. 254)

Rhinovirus, which is responsible for roughly half of all common colds, survives on surfaces in hotel rooms for hours and can be transferred from there to people. (p. 254)

Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins might reduce the risk of dying from sepsis triggered by a fungal infection. (p. 254)

More than one-fourth of skin or muscle infections that require hospitalization originate from microbes acquired in a clinic, hospital, or other medical-care setting. (p. 254)

(p. 255)