All Stories
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19296
The political pseudoscience press strikes again. Now, we are told that by 2050, as many as 31 percent of species will be wiped out by a temperature increase of 0.8 to 1.7°C. I find this impossible to believe, in that these organisms are all presently surviving with diurnal, seasonal, yearly, and cyclical average-temperature fluctuations that […]
- Earth
Warming climate may slam many species
Expected increases in global temperature could eradicate from a sixth to a half of the plant and animal species across large areas of the globe, a new analysis suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Arsenic helps tumors, blood vessels grow
Rather than being a potential antitumor agent, arsenic may actually help a tumor's supporting network of blood vessels thrive.
- Astronomy
Stellar finding may outshine all others
Astronomers have found what may be the heaviest, biggest, and brightest star ever observed.
- Earth
Farmed salmon bring PCBs to the table
High concentrations of chlorinated organic contaminants in farm-raised Atlantic salmon may warrant limiting consumption of the otherwise-healthful fish to no more than once per month.
- Earth
Air held oxygen early on
Chemical analyses of South African sediments suggest that oxygen was present in small quantities about 2.32 billion years ago, which is at least 100 million years earlier than previously thought.
- Earth
Scooting on a Wet Bottom: Some undersea landslides ride a nearly frictionless slick of water
New computer simulations suggest that hydroplaning may be responsible for the unexpectedly large distances traversed by some undersea avalanches.
- Health & Medicine
Conduit to the Brain: Particles enter the nervous system via the nose
Tiny airborne particles can apparently infiltrate the brain by shimmying up the nerve that governs smell.
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19373
Once again, we see evidence that supports what we knew all along. As my mother told me growing up, “Just sleep on it.” David VarnerPortland, Ore.
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Sleeper Effects: Slumber may fortify memory, stir insight
In two separate studies, researchers found that a specific sleep stage may amplify recent memories and that sleep can inspire problem-solving insights.
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Pushing Cancer over the Edge: Compounds trigger tumor-cell suicide
Compounds that free cancer cells to commit suicide slow tumor growth.
- Plants
Dawn of the Y: Papaya—Glimpse of early sex chromosome
Genetic mappers say that the papaya plant has a rudimentary Y chromosome, the youngest one in evolutionary terms yet found, offering a glimpse of the evolution of sex chromosomes.
