All Stories

  1. Attack of the cannibalistic bacteria

    When nutrients are low, some members of a bacterial species will cannibalize other members.

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  2. Math

    Prime-Time Cicadas

    Cicadas are flying, plant-eating insects. Most cicada species have life cycles that span 2 to 8 years. They spend most of their lives underground before emerging as adults. In a few species, almost all the individuals in a given location come out of hiding at the same time. These are known as periodical cicadas, and […]

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  3. Earth

    Spawning Trouble: Synthetic estrogen hampers trout fertility

    Exposure to a synthetic estrogen called ethynylestradiol, which is commonly found in birth control pills and enters the waterways through sewage effluent, reduces male trout’s fertility by half.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Double Duty: Diabetes drug protects reopened heart vessels

    A drug normally prescribed to hold blood sugar in check provides an unexpected benefit to heart patients.

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  5. Anthropology

    New Guinea Went Bananas: Agriculture’s roots get a South Pacific twist

    Inhabitants of New Guinea began to cultivate bananas in large quantities nearly 7,000 years ago, an agricultural practice that spread to Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific region.

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  6. 19327

    This article exaggerates the capability of transmission electron microscopy by stating that “individual lithium ions” are seen. The research paper described says that the features imaged correspond to columns of lithium, cobalt, and oxygen atoms in a sample estimated to be 17 unit cells thick. Eliot D. SpechtOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge, Tenn. True, but […]

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  7. Materials Science

    Lithium Sees the Light: Images of tiny ion may help battery designers

    An electron microscope has captured images of tiny lithium ions for the first time.

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  8. Animals

    Snake Pits: Viper heat sensors locate cool spots

    Scientists who glued aluminum foil and plastic balls to live rattlesnakes say that snakes use their heat-sensing organs for more than hunting prey.

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  9. Astronomy

    Stellar Top: Astronomers find a squashed star

    Astronomers have found a rapidly spinning, squashed star that is more than 1.5 times as wide as it is tall.

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  10. Physics

    Hot Mama: Has matter’s mother paid a call?

    Physicists have found new signs that fiery particle collisions within a giant accelerator 2 years ago created a state of matter identical to what might have been the stuff of the newborn universe.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    MRI detects missed breast cancers

    Magnetic resonance imaging detects breast cancer better than does mammography and might be preferable for certain women at high risk.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Cancer vaccine gets first test in patients

    The first clinical test of a cancer vaccine that targets a protein called carcinoembryonic antigen shows promise.

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