News
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Shut up! A thunderstorm’s on the way
The narrow-leafed gentian, a mountain blossom, is the first flower shown to close when a thunderstorm apporaches.
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A bad month for condors
Two California condors in the wild—a hatching and a just-released juvenile—died the same week, as a third went missing.
- Astronomy
A comet continues to crumble
Ever since astronomers first spied a comet 6 months ago and officially dubbed it C/2001 A2, the icy body has been breaking apart.
- Astronomy
A new giant in the Kuiper belt
An icy body in the Kuiper belt, a reservoir of comets in the solar system beyond Neptune, is a record setter for the belt and bigger than Pluto's moon Charon.
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Tests hint bird tails are misunderstood
A test of starling's tails in a wind tunnel suggests that the standard practice of extrapolating bird tail aerodynamics from delta-wing aircraft may be a mistake.
- Health & Medicine
Radiation harms blood vessels before gut
The side-effects of radiation therapy may result from initial damage to blood vessels.
- Health & Medicine
Sticky platelets boost blood clots
Tests for genetic variations of a key protein on platelets, the cell-like blood components that form clots, and their propensity to clump could help physicians determine optimal medication for heart disease patients.
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Vitamin A calibrates a heart clock, 24-7
Scientists have discovered a molecular clock that keeps the circulatory system in sync with the rest of the body, and they show it's regulated by vitamin A.
- Materials Science
Titanium dioxide hogs the spotlight
Researchers have created new coatings that break down toxins and keep mirrors from fogging when the materials are exposed to visible light.
- Earth
New type of hydrothermal vent looms large
The discovery of a new type of hydrothermal vent system on an undersea mountain in the Atlantic Ocean suggests that submarine hydrothermal activity may be much more widespread than previously thought.
- Physics
Antimatter mystery transcends new data
The discovery of a disparity in decays of subatomic particles known as B mesons and anti-B mesons sheds light on how matter and antimatter differ but deepens the mystery of why matter predominates in the universe today.
- Anthropology
Earliest Ancestor Emerges in Africa
Scientists have found 5.2- to 5.8-million-year-old fossils in Ethiopia that represent the earliest known members of the human evolutionary family.
