News
- Paleontology
Catching evolution in the act
Paleontologists have unearthed fossils that provide direct evidence of something scientists had long suspected: The tiny bones in the middle ears of modern-day mammals evolved from bones located at the rear of their reptilian ancestors' jaws.
- Health & Medicine
Preemies respond to immunizations
Babies born prematurely rev up an immune response to two routine childhood vaccines as well as babies who are born full-term.
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Novel DNA changes linked to autism
Genetic alterations that occur in children without being inherited from the parents contribute to certain cases of autism and related developmental disorders.
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Mental fallout among recent-war veterans
Almost one in three veterans of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq receiving medical care at Veterans Affairs facilities displays mental disorders or less-severe problems that still require mental-health treatment.
- Planetary Science
Radar reveals signs of seas on Titan
The northernmost reaches of Saturn's moon Titan appear to be covered with hydrocarbon lakes or seas that are at least 10 times as large as those predicted by earlier studies.
- Humans
The Next Generation: Intel Science Talent Search honors high school achievers
A 17-year-old from Oklahoma City who built a homemade Raman spectra system took first place at this year's Intel Science Talent Search.
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New Memory Manager: DNA silencer also controls memory formation
A surprising finding links memory formation to a process of shutting down genes in growing embryos.
- Animals
It’s a Girl: Atlantic mystery squid undergoes scrutiny
To scientists' surprise, a huge, deep-sea, gelatinous squid formerly reported only in the Pacific Ocean has turned up half a world away.
- Astronomy
First Family: Pluto-size body has siblings
Astronomers have found the first family of objects in the Kuiper belt, a remote outpost of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune.
- Physics
Warming Up to Criticality: Quantum change, one bubble at a time
Physicists can now observe matter as it gradually turns into a Bose-Einstein condensate—the exotic state of matter that displays quantum behavior at macroscopic scales.
- Anthropology
Ancient Slow Growth: Fossil teeth show roots of human development
An extended period of childhood evolved in people at least 160,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Brain Fix: Stem cells supply missing enzyme
Brain stem cells implanted into sick mice restored a missing enzyme and extended life span by 70 percent.
