News
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HumansButting out together
Cigarette smokers who know one another tend to kick the habit all at once, highlighting the importance of social forces in smoking-cessation treatment.
By Bruce Bower -
ChemistrySlippery when dry
Surfaces that mimic the back of an African beetle can collect water from fog.
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Health & MedicineTrust again
The ability to trust others even after violations of trust is regulated by the hormone oxytocin.
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EarthAsbestos-like nanotubes
Some carbon nanotubes show signs of asbestos-like toxicity.
By Janet Raloff -
SpaceSupernova Outbreak
Thanks to a lucky break and an overactive galaxy, astronomers report the earliest detection yet of a normal supernova—the explosive death of a massive star.
By Ron Cowen -
Health & MedicineNonstick toxicity
By mimicking the action of estrogen, a widely used nonstick chemical promotes cancer development in animals.
By Janet Raloff -
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LifeThese colors don’t run
A chameleon employs different color-changing defenses depending on its predator.
By Susan Milius -
Health & MedicineDonor dilemma
Blood donors age 16 or 17 are more apt to faint than older donors.
By Nathan Seppa -
LifeReviving extinct DNA
For the first time, scientists have resurrected a piece of DNA from an extinct animal — the Tasmanian tiger. The researchers engineered mice with a piece of the long-gone marsupial's DNA that turns on a collagen gene in cartilage-producing cells.
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TechI, computer
Bacteria that can "flip pancakes" with their DNA are the first microbes engineered to be living computers.
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Health & MedicineItchy and scratchy
People with a close relative who has had shingles face a heightened risk of getting the skin disease, and should probably be first in line to get the vaccine.
By Nathan Seppa