All Stories

  1. Space

    Universe has more entropy than thought

    New calculations suggest that the cosmos is more disorderly than thought and is a bit closer to heat death.

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  2. Chemistry

    Flowerless plants make fancy amber

    A new analysis suggests that ancient seed plants made a version of the fossilized resin credited to more modern relatives

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  3. Humans

    Flu: Grim stats

    Though risk of death from conventional flu strains escalates dramatically, beginning around age 45, a new study finds that masks do a fair job of slowing the infection's transmission.

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  4. Life

    Mitochondria behind life span extension

    Study in flies suggests low-protein diet works through power-producing organelles.

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  5. Humans

    Partial skeleton gives ancient hominids a new look

    African hominid fossils, including a partial skeleton, reveal a surprising mix of features suitable for upright walking and tree climbing 4.4 million years ago.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Excreted Tamiflu found in rivers

    A Japanese study finds that excreted Tamiflu ends up in river water, raising concerns that birds hosting a flu virus will develop drug-resistant strains.

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  7. Astronomy

    MESSENGER captures new images of Mercury during a third passage

    MESSENGER flew past Mercury for a third time on September 29. The spacecraft's mission will continue, with MESSENGER due to settle into a yearlong orbit around Mercury in March 2011.

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  8. EPA’s nanotoxicity research blueprint

    A blueprint for federal research on the potential health and environmental impacts of nanomaterials debuted today.

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  9. Chemistry

    Earth’s ‘boring billion’ years blamed on sulfur-loving microbes

    A new study suggests these organisms could have kept oxygen levels low and waters toxic, stalling the evolution of complex life.

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  10. Paleontology

    Parasite may have felled a mighty T. rex

    An infection known to afflict modern birds may have led to starvation in several dinosaurs.

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  11. Paleontology

    Fish death, mammal extinction and tiny dino footprints

    Paleontologists in Bristol, England, at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology report on fish fossils in Wyoming, the loss of Australia’s megafauna and the smallest dinosaur tracks.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Obesity epidemic may threaten mitten industry

    Hot fingers: That appears to be one consequence of big bodies.

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