News
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Med use widens in kids with ADHD
Data from a medical center in Washington state indicate that a substantial minority of children who have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder receive prescriptions not only for stimulants but also for additional psychoactive drugs intended to treat other mental conditions.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
Walking sticks mimic two leafy looks and split their species
A species of walking stick may be evolving into two species by adapting to different environments.
By Susan Milius -
Physics
Atom laser gets a full tank
A method to refill Bose-Einstein condensates—ultracold clouds of atoms all in the same quantum state—may soon make possible the first atom lasers that can shoot a stream of condensate atoms indefinitely.
By Peter Weiss -
Animals
Mole-rats: Kissing but not quite cousins
Damaraland mole-rats live underground in rodent versions of bee hives, but a genetic analysis of these colonies finds that kinship isn't very beelike.
By Susan Milius -
Tech
Paint-on displays get closer to reality
By smearing on a coating and hardening it with light, researchers have created a new kind of electronic display.
By Peter Weiss -
Baby talk goes to the dogs, and cats
Acoustic differences in the "baby talk" that mothers use with their infants and with family pets support the notion that adults use this form of speech to teach language skills to their babies.
By Bruce Bower -
Chemistry
Steering reactions with light
A light-based scheme for guiding the motion of chemical wave fronts may suggest ways to control analogous waves present in epileptic seizures and heart arrhythmias.
By Peter Weiss -
Chemistry
Carbon nanotubes burn when flashed
Carbon nanotubes can ignite when exposed to an ordinary camera flash.
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Humans
Science Derby: Student research and inventions nab awards
On May 12, more than 1,200 high school students came to Louisville, Ky., to vie for more than $3 million in scholarships and prizes at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
By Sid Perkins -
Verbal Brains: Neural word paths take a mature turn
A new brain-scan study indicates that the pattern of brain responses associated with word knowledge in adults has not fully matured by age 10.
By Bruce Bower -
Health & Medicine
Look Ma, Too Much Soy: Hormone in infant food reduces immunity in mice
Large doses of the estrogenlike hormones that occur naturally in soybeans weaken the immune systems of mice.
By Ben Harder