News

  1. Health & Medicine

    Interferon delays multiple sclerosis

    In some people who show early-warning signs of multiple sclerosis, the drug interferon-beta-1a seems to delay or even prevent the disease from becoming full-blown.

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  2. Archaeology

    Agriculture’s roots go tropical

    Tropical-forest dwellers in Central America may have cultivated manioc and other root crops as many as 7,000 years ago.

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  3. Archaeology

    Early farmers crop up in Jordan

    An ancient site discovered in southern Jordan dating back more than 9,000 years may help to illuminate the origins of farming in the Middle East.

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  4. Certain mental ills may be tied to violence

    A long-term study in New Zealand links elevated violence rates in young adults to the presence of at least one of three psychiatric ailments—alcohol dependence, marijuana dependence, and a range of psychotic experiences and beliefs called schizophrenia-spectrum disorder.

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  5. Tech

    Aircraft trick may give big rigs a gentle lift

    Using sheet-like jets of air to control aerodynamic drag and lift—a technology first developed for aircraft—may boost gas mileage and improve braking and handling of tractor-trailer trucks.

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  6. Materials Science

    Crystal puts pressure on diamonds

    A new type of synthetic crystal called moissanite allows researchers to study more material at high pressure than is possible with traditional diamond devices.

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  7. Nicotine metabolism may spawn carcinogen

    The body may metabolize nicotine into products that the lungs subsequently may convert into a potent compound that causes lung cancer.

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  8. Animals

    Dull birds and bright ones beat so-so guys

    The plumage of yearling male lazuli buntings shows signs of a rare form of evolutionary pressure called disruptive selection.

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  9. Astronomy

    Are most extrasolar planets hefty imposters?

    A new study makes the startling claim that nearly half the objects reported to be extrasolar planets are something much more massive and mundane—either lightweight stars or stellar wannabes known as brown dwarfs.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Study bolsters head injury, Alzheimer’s link

    Veterans who suffered a moderate or severe concussion during World War II face a heightened risk of Alzheimer's disease when they reach old age.

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  11. It’s a boy! It’s a girl! It’s a mosaic embryo

    Using a new technique to examine chromosomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos at the time they're implanted in the womb, researchers report abnormalities never seen later in development, possibly explaining why IVF has a low efficiency.

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  12. Chemistry

    Materials Factory: RNA manufactures palladium particles

    Chemists have evolved RNA fragments in the lab that spontaneously synthesize highly uniform, hexagonal-shaped nanoparticles of palladium.

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