News

  1. Health & Medicine

    Worms offer the skinny on fat genes

    The identification of worm genes that regulate fat storage may provide insight into human obesity.

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  2. Astronomy

    Starry eruption on a grand scale

    Monitoring the bloated star Rho Cassiopeiae, astronomers report they witnessed an explosion that blasted more material into space than any other stellar explosion ever observed.

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  3. Physics

    Streams plus nanostrands equals electricity

    A dense bundle of carbon nanotubes develops a voltage difference along its length when immersed in a slow-flowing liquid.

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  4. Chemistry

    Synthetic molecule may treat anemia

    Researchers have created a new form of the protein erythropoietin (EPO) using synthetic chemistry techniques.

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  5. Earth

    9/11 ash, and more, found in river muck

    Sediment cores pulled from the Hudson River near the World Trade Center site contain a thin layer of metal-rich ash and pulverized debris.

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  6. Catch of the day for cancer researchers

    Scientists are using glowing tumor cells inside zebrafish to study how cancer spreads.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Mind Numbing: Anesthesia in baby rats stunts brain development

    General anesthetic drugs commonly used in pediatric surgery, when given to baby rats, trigger brain cells to commit a cellular form of suicide that leads to lasting memory and learning deficits.

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  8. Humans

    Budget Boosts and Busts: R&D for Defense, NASA garner funding rise

    The President's $2.23 trillion federal budget proposal contains nearly $123 billion to fund federal research and development, an increase of about $8 billion over last year’s proposal.

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  9. Agriculture

    Bt Cotton: Yields up in India; pests low in Arizona

    Two cotton-growing centers that could hardly differ more—small farms in India and industrial fields in Arizona—provide case studies that show the bright side of a widespread genetically engineered crop.

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  10. Bad Sleepers Hurry Death: Snoozing soundly staves off the Big Sleep

    Healthy elderly people who experienced difficulty falling or staying asleep die from natural causes at a much higher rate than those who slept well.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Exonerated? Foods’ acrylamide risks appear low

    A new study downplays the likelihood that people will develop cancer from eating foods naturally tainted with acrylamide, a building block of many plastics and an animal carcinogen.

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  12. Tech

    Columbia Disaster: Why did the space shuttle burn up?

    The space shuttle Columbia, which tore apart killing all seven of its crew on Feb. 1 just minutes before it was scheduled to land, may have been doomed since its liftoff.

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