News

  1. Anthropology

    Carnivore conflicts gnaw at Neandertals

    Discoveries in a French cave indicate that by about 41,000 years ago, Neandertals and hyenas competed for prey and for access to protected sites where they could safely consume their food.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Inflammation inhibitor may limit heart attacks

    A new drug suppresses an inflammation-causing protein that has been linked to heart attacks.

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  3. Plants

    Built-in bird perch spreads the pollen

    Tests confirm the idea that a plant benefits from growing a bird perch to let pollinators get the best angle for reaching the flowers.

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  4. Planetary Science

    Craft show

    The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft recently imaged Mars Odyssey and Mars Express, marking the first time that a spacecraft orbiting a planet other than Earth has captured images of other craft circling the same planet.

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  5. Tech

    Fields of Beams: Carbon nanotubes crop up for big-screen TV

    Carbon nanotubes serve as the electron emitters that light up the screen of a new experimental, high-definition television display.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Positive Jolt: Electroshock therapy may have side benefit

    People with depression have high concentrations of norepinephrine, a brain hormone, but electroshock treatment lowers these levels to the normal range.

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  7. Materials Science

    Tissue Tether: Improved conducting plastic could boost nerve-regeneration success

    Biomedical engineers aim to repair damaged nerves with a chemically modified conducting polymer that stimulates the growth of nerve cells.

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  8. Mapping Aroma: Smells light up distinct brain parts

    The sense of smell may have its own brain atlas.

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  9. Planetary Science

    Roaming Giants: Did migrating planets shape the solar system?

    New simulations suggest that the solar system's four biggest planets were once bunched together, setting up a planetary bowling game that rapidly and violently rearranged the structure of the outer solar system and tossed chunks of debris inward.

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  10. Earth

    Last Gasp: Toxic gas could explain great extinction

    Sudden venting of hydrogen sulfide from the deep sea could have caused the largest extinction in Earth's history by poisoning land animals and destroying atmospheric ozone that protects Earth from ultraviolet light.

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  11. Anthropology

    Founding Families: New World was settled by small tribe

    A new genetic analysis indicates that only about 200 to 300 people crossed the ice age land bridge from Asia to become the founding population of North America.

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  12. Ecosystems

    Pesticide makes bees bumble

    The pesticide spinosad, previously thought safe for bees, may damage their ability to forage for nectar.

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