Notebook

  1. Animals

    Flightless birds face extinction

    New Zealand’s flightless birds have limped through the last few decades, but conservation efforts have had some success.

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  2. Plants

    Kleptoplast

    A cellular part such as a light-harvesting chloroplast that an organism takes from algae it has eaten.

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  3. Physics

    Tea time

    Leave it to the English to solve the mystery of a tea kettle’s whistle.

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  4. Animals

    Unusual new species names of 2013

    Here are five species with tongue-twister titles.

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  5. Genetics

    Top genomes of 2013

    Scientists continue to decode the genetic blueprints of the planet’s myriad flora and fauna.

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  6. Astronomy

    Top exoplanet finds of 2013

    Here are some of the year’s most notable finds.

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  7. Environment

    World’s worst polluted

    A new report by Green Cross Switzerland and the Blacksmith Institute lists places posing the greatest risk to human health.

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  8. Animals

    A corsage that bites

    The orchid mantis uses a flowery subterfuge to lure prey.

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  9. Earth

    Cryovolcano

    An ice volcano that erupts slurries of volatile compounds such as water or methane instead of lava.

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  10. Computing

    Fastest supercomputers

    The new list of the world’s fastest computers, now in its 20th year, has China’s Tianhe-2 on top with a processing speed of 33.9 petaflops — or quadrillions of calculations per second.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Cancer vaccine in near future foreseen

    Excerpt from the December 21, 1963 issue of SCIENCE NEWS LETTER.

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  12. Physics

    Ripple effect

    If you want ripples in your icicles, just add salt. This recipe comes from physicists reporting in the October New Journal of Physics.

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