News
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Cell’s core pore structure solved
Scientists working in yeast have deciphered the structure of the complex cluster of proteins that regulates access to the nucleus of cells.
- Animals
Female antelopes take the lead in courtship
Topi antelopes, with their hesitant males, reverse the usual sex roles in mammal courtship.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Big kids at risk for heart disease
Overweight children grow up to have an elevated risk for blocked coronary arteries as adults, a long-term Danish study finds.
By Brian Vastag - Planetary Science
A sunlike star’s early development
A new infrared portrait of an embryonic sunlike star reveals an early, crucial step in the process of planet formation.
By Ron Cowen -
Perchlorate Pump: Molecule draws contaminant into breast milk
A molecular pump meant to transport iodine also concentrates perchlorate, an environmental pollutant, in breast milk.
- Health & Medicine
Angiogenesis Factors: Tracking down the suspects in blood vessel growth near tumors
Tumors enlist certain bone marrow cells in efforts to grow new blood vessels for self-nourishment.
By Nathan Seppa - Physics
15 = 3 × 5: Photons do their first quantum math
Physicists have performed the first calculation involving manipulation of the quantum states of photons, another step on the road to optical quantum computers.
- Earth
The Salt Flat That Isn’t Flat: World’s largest playa sports ridges, valleys
An innovative field survey of the world's largest salt flat, a New Jersey–size playa high in the Andes, reveals that the barren expanse actually has minuscule, centimeter-scale variations in topography.
By Sid Perkins -
Chimp Champ: Ape aces memory test, outscores people
A young chimp outperforms college students on a test of recalling numbers glimpsed for less than a quarter of a second. With video.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Sickle Save: Skin cells fix anemia in mice
Using a new technique to turn skin cells into stem cells, scientists have corrected sickle cell anemia in mice.
By Brian Vastag - Plants
Botanists refine family tree for flowering plants
Two research teams have used the biggest array of flowering-plant genes yet to try to reconstruct the elusive evolutionary history of today's flowers.
By Susan Milius - Physics
Sharper than expected
A new technique beats the resolution limits of ordinary microscopes in a way that seems to defy conventional optical theory.