News
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ChemistryCarbon-70 fullerenes finally link up
Researchers have coaxed the cage-like molecules of carbon-70 into zigzagging polymers.
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ChemistryChemists make molecules with less mess
Researchers have found a way for a widely used, commercially important chemical reaction to produce less pollution.
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ComputingNew initiatives scale up supercomputing
Several government efforts aim to give researchers access to computing power in the range of 12 trillion operations per second or more.
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EarthSahara to get hotter, drier, smaller
By the end of this century, the world's hottest desert will be even hotter, drier, and smaller than it is now, according to an international team of climate modelers.
By Sid Perkins -
EarthResetting a clock from Earth’s rocks
Better measurements of one of the rates of radioactive decay used to date extremely old rocks open up the possibility that Earth may have had a crust as many as 200 million years earlier than previously thought.
By Sid Perkins -
ComputingWeb worms: Code Red to Warhol
Using an efficient infection strategy, a malicious programmer could deploy a rogue computer program far more voracious than the Code Red worm that struck on July 19.
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PhysicsAccelerators load some new ammo: Crystals
To make denser accelerator beams that may open new doors in physics, researchers have chilled ions in a miniature test accelerator until the ions coalesced into crystals.
By Peter Weiss -
Materials ScienceChemical sensors gain true portability
Researchers have designed simple new films for indicating the presence of worrisome airborne chemicals.
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EarthDeep-sea gear takes wild ride on lava
When a set of instruments monitoring an underwater volcano got trapped in an eruption in early 1998, the scientists who had deployed the sensors ended up with more data than they bargained for.
By Sid Perkins -
AnimalsSmart tags show unexpected tuna trips
The first report on Atlantic bluefin tuna wearing electronic tags reveals much more dashing across the ocean than expected.
By Susan Milius -
AstronomyAstronomers spy familiar planetary system
Studying a star in the Big Dipper, astronomers have for the first time found a planetary system that reminds them of home.
By Ron Cowen -
Health & MedicineDrugs Counter Mad Cow Agent in Cells
Fueled only by promising studies of cells, a California research team has invited controversy by beginning to give a little-used malaria drug to patients who have the human version of mad cow disease.
By John Travis