Feature

  1. Humans

    To Leap or Not to Leap

    Scientists are debating whether to continue the practice of occasionally inserting leap seconds in order to keep official, atomic-based time in sync with time based on Earth's rotation.

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  2. Earth

    Region at Risk

    Scientists are still analyzing the magnitude 7.9 quake that struck San Francisco a century ago and, at the same time, are scrambling to estimate when the next large quake will strike the Bay Area.

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  3. Plants

    They’re All Part Fungus

    Hidden deep in their tissues, all plants probably have fungi that don't make them sick but still may have a big influence.

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  4. Physics

    Revealing Covert Actions

    The recent merger of high-speed video technology and centuries-old techniques for seeing ordinarily invisible fluctuations of the air is enabling engineers to visualize and study the previously unseen, large-scale behavior of shock waves in explosions and aerodynamics research.

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  5. Materials Science

    Spin City

    Researchers are using a technique called electrospinning to create fibrous mats that have potential applications in drug delivery, wound care, and tissue engineering.

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  6. Earth

    Uncharted Territory

    Ultraslow-spreading undersea ridges are giving oceanographers fresh insights into how Earth's crust forms.

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  7. Thugs and Bugs

    With some laboratory detective work, scientists are discovering how various pathogens interact with their targets.

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  8. Animals

    That’s One Weird Tooth

    The narwhal's distinctive spiral tusk has structures that could make it phenomenally sensitive, raising new questions about its functions.

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  9. Materials Science

    Making the Most of It

    A recent crop of studies demonstrates how nature finds strength in unlikely places.

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  10. Paleontology

    Out of the Shadows

    An ongoing flurry of fossil finds is triggering a reevaluation of how early mammals and their close kin eked out an existence during the Age of Dinosaurs.

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  11. Ecosystems

    Light All Night

    New digital images demonstrate that artificial light from urban areas penetrates deep into some of America's most remote wild places, where it may disrupt ecosystems that have evolved with a nightly quota of darkness.

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  12. Prescription for Controversy

    Increasing concerns about the efficacy and safety of a popular class of antidepressant drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, especially in depressed youth, has sparked regulatory action and scientific debate.

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