News
- Plants
Everglades plant is he, then she, then he
Sawgrass, the signature plant of the Everglades, switches genders twice during its week of blooming and thus reduces the chances of self- fertilization.
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Near-death events take arresting turn
A survey of people treated for serious heart problems indicates that 1 in 10 of those who survived cardiac arrest had an accompanying near-death experience.
- Physics
Icy telescope spots hot neutrinos
The first sky map from an innovative neutrino telescope indicates that the instrument works properly and is poised to find never-before-seen signals from the universe's most violent events.
- Physics
Electric Foam: Scientists uncover basis of material oddball
Specially treated polypropylene foam can mimic the defining behavior and other desirable properties of ceramic piezoelectric materials, which generate electric signals when squeezed.
- Tech
Shining True: Marking original documents with a lick of gloss
Scientists have a new way of making forgery-proof documents by using laser color printers to embed hologramlike images in a document’s glossy surface.
- Ecosystems
Shark Serengeti: Ocean predators have diversity hot spots
The first search for oceanic spots of exceptional diversity in predators has turned up marine versions of the teeming Serengeti plains.
- Anthropology
New World Newcomers: Men’s DNA supports recent settlement of the Americas
New data on genetic differences among the Y chromosomes of Asian and Native American men support the notion that people first reached the Americas less than 20,000 years ago.
- Paleontology
Three Species No Moa? Fossil DNA analysis yields surprise
Analyses of genetic material from the fossils of large flightless birds called moas suggest that three types of the extinct birds may not be separate species after all.
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Winning Bet: Horse and mule clones cross the finish line
Scientists have for the first time cloned a mule and a horse.
- Health & Medicine
Virus Shield: Ebola vaccine works fast in monkey test
Tests on monkeys show that an experimental vaccine can build immunity against Ebola virus within a month, suggesting the vaccine might help contain outbreaks of the deadly pathogen.
- Computing
Resistance leaps as magnetism mounts
A tiny traffic island for electrons promises to serve as an extraordinarily sensitive detector of magnetic fields.
- Tech
Robots making robots, with some help
A new type of robotic system that designs and produces robotic offspring may represent a first step toward self-replicating "artificial life."
