All Stories
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PsychologySimple rules can ease complex financial decisions
Straightforward strategies, known as heuristics, can be indispensable tools for keeping credit card debt in check as well as for making complex business decisions.
By Bruce Bower -
AnimalsNumbers of California blue whales rebound
Blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, were hunted nearly to extinction. Now the population that feeds off the coast of California appears to have rebounded to close to prewhaling numbers.
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GeneticsAncient famine-fighting genes can’t explain obesity
Scientists question the long-standing notion that adaptation — specifically the evolution of genes that encourage humans to hold on to fat so they can survive times of famine — has driven the obesity crisis.
By Laura Beil -
MicrobesMagnets diagnose malaria in minutes
A small magnet-based device provides faster, more-sensitive malaria diagnosis in mice.
By Nsikan Akpan -
OceansPlastic may take unexpected routes to marine garbage patches
By redefining ocean boundaries, researchers offer new insight to how litter moves through the oceans and who’s to blame for the floating clumps of trash.
By Beth Mole -
TechSpace tourism’s price tag rockets upward
The “high price” of space tourism proposed in the 1960s is nowhere close to the astronomical price tag of trips today.
By Nsikan Akpan -
PhysicsUnusual turbulence seen along North Carolina coast
Storm winds in Currituck Sound, North Carolina, may have created just the right conditions for scientists to see a rare type of turbulence in ocean waves for the first time.
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AnimalsArcherfish mouth is the secret of precision spit
Trained fish shoot down two hypotheses for their fine spit control but reveal fancy mouth work.
By Susan Milius -
EarthDeath Valley’s sailing stones caught on the move
Mysterious sailing stones wandering around Death Valley are powered by ice and wind.
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GeneticsSource of coffee’s kick found in its genetic code
Coffee doubled up on caffeine-making genes. Those genes evolved independently from similar ones found in tea and chocolate plants.
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PaleontologyWorld’s largest dinosaur discovered
A plant-eating dinosaur named Dreadnoughtus schrani has claimed the record for most massive land animal discovered to date.
By Meghan Rosen