Feature

  1. Astronomy

    Rethinking an Astronomical Icon

    Examining the Eagle nebula's pillars of creation with infrared detectors, scientists are viewing an astronomical icon in a whole new light.

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  2. Ecosystems

    Are They Really Extinct?

    A few optimists keep looking for species that might already have gone extinct.

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  3. A Maverick Reclaimed

    A small band of researchers wants to resuscitate the ideas of Egon Brunswik, a brilliant but tragic psychologist who died almost 50 years ago.

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  4. Channel Surfing

    The newly revealed three-dimensional structures of proteins called ion channels reveal the secrets of their crucial function.

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  5. Earth

    Avalanche!

    Laboratory studies of how snow crystals change shape under fluctuating environmental conditions and computer analyses that match the patterns of past avalanches with detailed meteorological data are helping scientists uncover the secrets of avalanches.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Tracking Tumors

    Researchers are trying to visualize molecular and cellular changes as a cancer responds to therapy in order to predict whether treatments are effective sooner than it's currently possible to determine.

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  7. Materials Science

    Materials Take Wing

    Materials scientists are finding new uses for the billions of pounds of feathers produced each year by the poultry industry.

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  8. Astronomy

    The Milky Way’s Middle

    Sensitive X-ray, infrared, and radio telescopes are now providing an extraordinarily clear view of the dust-shrouded center of our galaxy.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    The Hunger Hormone?

    Scientists may have finally found the body’s dinner bell.

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  10. Anthropology

    A Fair Share of the Pie

    A cross-cultural project suggests that people everywhere divvy up food and make other economic deals based on social concepts of fairness, not individual self-interest.

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  11. Meeting Danielle the Tarantula

    Insect zoos have no lions, tigers, or bears but can give plenty of thrills, courtesy of tarantulas, giant beetles, and exotic grasshoppers.

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  12. Physics

    Anatomy of a Lightning Ball

    Metallic fuzz, acid droplets, or other fairy dust may conjure up ball lightning (with video clips).

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