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  1. Blindspots: The Many Ways We Cannot See by Bruno G. Breitmeyer

    A vision expert explores how the eyes, brain and thoughts work together to form mental images. BLINDSPOTS: THE MANY WAYS WE CANNOT SEE BY BRUNO G. BREITMEYER Oxford University Press, 2010, 266 p., $39.95.

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  2. The Tuning of Place: Sociable Spaces and Pervasive Digital Media by Richard Coyne

    Smartphones and iPods are changing the way people use public spaces, both real and virtual. THE TUNING OF PLACE: SOCIABLE SPACES AND PERVASIVE DIGITAL MEDIA BY RICHARD COYNE MIT Press, 2010, 330 p., $35.

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  3. The Intimate Ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Species by Shawn Thompson

    A journalist travels to Sumatra and Borneo to study the apes and interview scientists. THE INTIMATE APE: ORANGUTANS AND THE SECRET LIFE OF A VANISHING SPECIES BY SHAWN THOMPSON Citadel Press, 2010, 292 p., $14.95.

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  4. Letters

    Making morphine The article “Chemists pin down poppy’s tricks for producing narcotic painkiller” (SN: 4/10/10, p. 5) may presage geopolitical changes in Afghanistan, regardless of whether there are engineered virus attacks or alternative crop programs. A technological advance like this one will eventually be used in the United States and Europe. Even if governments continue […]

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  5. Confronting a third crisis in U.S. science education

    Is science education broken in the United States? And if so, how should the country fix it? A working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has been investigating these long-standing questions and is expected to issue a report on its policy recommendations this month. Science News Contributing Editor Alexandra […]

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Taste of power goes to the head, then muscles

    Just a swish of the carbohydrates in an energy drink can increase muscle performance, a study suggests.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Genetic switch makes old mice forgetful

    Reversing a chemical change restored the animals’ memory-making ability.

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  8. Life

    Neandertal genome yields evidence of interbreeding with humans

    After years of looking, geneticists are shocked to find that 1 percent to 4 percent of DNA in people from Europe and Asia is inherited from Neandertals.

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  9. Chemistry

    Decon Green can clean up the most toxic messes, developers claim

    A new decontaminant could be a more benign alternative for cleaning up after chemical and biological accidents.

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  10. Life

    Undereducated immune cells get aggressive with HIV

    Scientists discover a mechanism that makes some people resistant to infection with the AIDS virus.

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  11. Space

    New Hubble pictures suggest Milky Way fell together

    A preliminary analysis appears to strike a blow against the prevailing theory of galaxy formation.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    U.S. childhood obesity rate continues to rise

    Only a few states buck the trend toward greater weight gain in kids age 10 to 17, a new survey shows.

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