All Stories

  1. Neuroscience

    Famous brain surgery patient H.M. retained a chunk of hippocampus

    The patient's amnesia was probably due to the loss of other regions and neural connections.

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  2. Life

    Molecule stops MERS spread among cultured human cells

    The molecule interacts with the protein the MERS virus uses to enter a cell.

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  3. Materials Science

    Etched glass stops cracks in their tracks

    Adding wavy lines to glass reduces the material’s notorious brittleness.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Nanopackaging biodegrades after delivering cancer drug

    DNA binding creates potentially nontoxic tumor-targeting structures.

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  5. Tech

    A turkey’s wattle inspires a biosensor’s design

    A group of scientists from the University of California, Berkeley have developed a color-changing biosensor inspired by a turkey’s wattle.

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  6. Neuroscience

    Big science for lean times

    The greatest promises of brain research — a cellular description of thought and behavior and, even more importantly, strategies to battle disorders of the brain — have yet to be fulfilled. Making good on those promises is the motivation behind the federal BRAIN Initiative.

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  7. Genetics

    Feedback

    Readers discuss the names of really big numbers and whether Lamarckian evolution is making a comeback.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Low semen levels in mice make for fatter sons

    Mice without the glands that make semen may sire sons with more body fat.

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  9. Earth

    Eighth century carbon spike not from comet impact

    The space rock would have to have been 100 kilometers across and 100 billion to 1,000 billion tons, leaving a disastrous impact not supported by geological or written records.

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  10. Animals

    Windows may kill up to 988 million birds a year in the United States

    Single-family homes and low-rise buildings do much more damage than skyscrapers.

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  11. Animals

    Gray seals snack on harbor porpoises

    Photo evidence confirms seals' fatal attacks on harbor porpoises in the English Channel, suggesting that declines in the seals' usual fare are forcing the animals to seek out other high-energy food.

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  12. Earth

    Grand Canyon’s origin dated to 6 million years ago

    Even though parts of the canyon are old, the chasm could not have taken on its grand form until erosion from the Colorado River connected all of the smaller canyons, which was roughly 6 million years ago, scientists argue.

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