News
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DNA hints at origin of all language
A genetic study of African tribes suggests early language contained clicking sounds.
- Astronomy
Young stars shed light on young sun
If our own sun had been as active in its youth as is a group of young sunlike stars recently observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, it could account for the abundance of several isotopes, such as aluminum-26, calcium-41, and beryllium-10 found in meteorites.
- Astronomy
Asteroid studies reveal new puzzles
Belying the image of an asteroid as a bare rock, a detailed study of the asteroid 433 Eros reveals that many of its crater floors and depressions are coated with fine dust and nearly half of the largest rocks strewn across the asteroid's surface represent material blasted from a single crater.
- Astronomy
Moon plume breaks the record
The Galileo spacecraft has found the tallest plume seen so far on Jupiter's moon Io, the only volcanically active moon known in the solar system.
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Ant invaders strand seeds without rides
Invading Argentine ants may reshape the plant composition of the South African fynbos ecosystem because the newcomers don't disperse seeds.
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Rare sheep cloned from dead donor
An international team used cells from recently dead ewes of the rare mouflon sheep to clone a lamb.
- Chemistry
Milk protein does a membrane good
Chemical engineers have created a new type of durable membrane from whey protein, a natural component of milk.
- Chemistry
Molecules, like Tinkertoys, link up
Researchers have tailored molecules so that they self-assemble into predictable shapes on a gold surface.
- Paleontology
Even flossing wouldn’t have helped
Small particles trapped in minuscule cracks or pits in the teeth of plant-eating dinosaurs could give scientists a way to identify the types of greenery the ancient herbivores were munching.
- Paleontology
CT scan unscrambles rare, ancient egg
A tangled heap of bones and bone fragments in the bottom of an unhatched elephant bird egg may soon be reassembled into a model of the long-dead embryo, thanks to high technology—and scientists won't even have to crack open the egg to do it.
- Paleontology
How did Triceratops grow its horns?
Newly discovered fossil skulls of juvenile Triceratops may help reveal how the dinosaurs grew their three trademark horns.
- Paleontology
Fossils found under tons of Kitty Litter
Excavations at North America's largest Kitter Litter mine have yielded fossils of ancient aquatic reptiles, as well as evidence of a tsunami generated by the extraterrestrial impact that killed off the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
