All Stories

  1. Tech

    Diagnostic gadget mixes and matches all in one

    Researchers have fabricated a miniature diagnostic lab that can detect disease-linked genes in a small sample of whole blood.

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  2. Humans

    Plan B ruling is prescription for controversy

    Contravening a recent recommendation from one of its advisory panels, the Food and Drug Administration denied an application to make the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B available without a doctor's prescription.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Nanoparticles could mark spots for surgery

    A new molecule studded with magnetically active ions may soon help surgeons extract, with minimal cutting, lymph nodes likely to harbor cancer.

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  4. Earth

    Boats puff up outdoor carbon monoxide risk

    Large congregations of motorboats can produce enough carbon monoxide gas in open air to be hazardous to people.

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  5. Humans

    Historical chemistry library wows scholars

    A new library in Philadelphia is home to one of the world's most extensive and valuable collections of historical chemistry texts.

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  6. Anthropology

    Neandertals may have grown up quickly

    A new analysis of fossil teeth indicates that Neandertals grew to maturity at a faster pace than people do.

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  7. Nicotine limits cold adaptation

    A new study homes in on why smokers may have a harder time staying warm in frigid environments.

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  8. Physics

    After 40-year prep, gravity test soars

    The Gravity Probe B satellite, which was built to test aspects of general relativity, finally hurtled into space.

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  9. 19417

    While reading about the amazing properties of Archimedes’ Stomachion, I wondered whether a mere child’s toy would exhibit such mathematical precision, with each vertex falling on a lattice point of a 12-by-12 grid. Perhaps Archimedes took the basic plan of the toy and tweaked it to see what properties he could induce. Jeffry D. MuellerEldersburg, […]

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  10. Math

    Glimpses of Genius

    By studying a puzzle that Archimedes pondered 2,200 years ago, mathematicians are obtaining new insights into its intriguing geometric structure.

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  11. Physics

    The Rise of Antibubbles

    Tiny globules of water enclosed by thin shells of air in water that look like bubbles but don't act like them have recently become the objects of serious study.

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  12. Math

    Extra Time, Math, and the SAT

    Extra time on the math portion of the SAT helps the most able students the most.

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