News
- Paleontology
Northern Extinction: Alaskan horses shrank, then disappeared
Horses that lived in Alaska shrank dramatically in body size before they went extinct at the end of the last ice age.
- Astronomy
Sound of the fury
On Oct. 28, the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft recorded the radio wave "sound" of a powerful solar flare as it raced toward Earth.
- Astronomy
Chow Down! Milky Way gobbles its closest known neighbor
A tiny, newly discovered galaxy being shredded by the gravity of the Milky Way is our galaxy's closest known neighbor, residing just 42,000 light-years from the Milky Way's center.
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The good side of a viral infection?
Hepatitis A infections may protect people from allergies and asthma.
- Tech
Laser beam powers flying machine
Caught in a laser's glare on its maiden launch, a lightweight drone with a solar panel demonstrated that continuous flight powered by ground-based lasers is possible.
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Chronicling a war of beetle vs. leaf
A meshing of family trees provides a rare example of an arms race between toxic Bursera plants and the beetles that manage to eat them anyway.
- Anthropology
Europe’s Iceman was a valley guy
The 5,200-year-old Iceman, whose mummified body was found 12 years ago in the Alps between Italy and Austria, spent his life in the valleys just south of where his body was found, according to chemical analyses of his remains.
- Earth
Bioengineered crops have mixed eco effects
An unusually large test of the ecological impact of genetically modified crops finds mixed results, depending on the crop.
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- Earth
Chemical Reaction: Two flame retardants to phase out in 2004
The sole U.S. manufacturer of two widely used brominated fire retardants pledged to phase out its production of both products by the end of next year.
- Animals
Not-So-Great Hunter: Said the spider to the fly—Eek! I’m outta here
The poisonous brown recluse spider may turn out not to be a fearsome hunter so much as a scavenger.
