All Stories
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Science & Society‘Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies’ reveals the secrets of invisible ink
Kristie Macrakis takes readers on a tour of invisible ink’s history and the need to hide information, from the earliest empires to the Internet age.
By Bryan Bello -
AnimalsSwimming evolved several times in treetop ants
Certain ants living in tropical forest canopies turn out to be fine swimmers.
By Susan Milius -
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TechScientists struggle to find signals in the noise
Even in a simple system like email, detecting the signal from the noise is not always easy. It can be even more difficult separating a dazzling discovery from dust or whether a breast mass is cancerous or benign.
By Eva Emerson -
Health & MedicineMammography’s limits becoming clear
It may be time to move way from blanket recommendations about mammography and empower women to decide for themselves, new work suggests.
By Laura Beil -
CosmologyDazzle or dust?
The unpredictable glow of galactic dust could undermine the biggest cosmological discovery in years.
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EarthEarth’s deep interior holds vast reservoir of water
Ocean’s worth of water trapped in Earth’s mantle, lab experiments and seismic data suggest.
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AnimalsIt’s hard being a sea otter mom
The energy requirements of lactation may explain why some female sea otters abandon their young.
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LifeDinos straddled line between cold- and warm-blooded
Tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaurs straddled line between cold- and warm-blood, a new analysis finds.
By Meghan Rosen -
TechExoskeleton helps paraplegic kick off World Cup
A paralyzed person wearing a brain-controlled robotic exoskeleton has made the first kick at the 2014 soccer World Cup.
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Health & MedicineIf timing’s right, cats and roaches may be good for kids’ allergies
Exposure to mice, roaches and cats before a child’s first birthday may confer protection against asthma and allergies, a new study suggests.
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LifeCalifornia mite becomes fastest land animal
Despite being the size of a sesame seed, the Paratarsotomus macropalpis mite can outpace Usain Bolt and even a cheetah in terms of body lengths per second.