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  1. Snapshots from 25 years of publicizing astronomy

    Astronomer and author Stephen P. Maran recently retired from 25 years as press officer for the American Astronomical Society. He also worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for more than 35 years. Known for his Einsteinian hair, along with his quips and insightful comments at press briefings that drew record crowds, […]

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  2. Science Future for November 7, 2009

    November 18 Last day entries for the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search will be accepted. Download forms at www.societyforscience.org November 24 Biologist E.O. Wilson and others lecture at Harvard on the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s Origin of Species. Sign up for viewings at darwinlecture4.eventbrite.com November 30 Meeting for scientists and policy makers on Antarctic research […]

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  3. Science Past from the issue of November 7, 1959

    Russians release photos of moon’s far side — Russian scientists have released a photograph of the far side of the moon as taken from U.S.S.R. satellite Lunik III. The photograph on the cover of this week’s Science News Letter shows the far side of the moon. Soviet astronomers identify the long solid lines as the […]

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  4. Letters

    Sore words I don’t usually write to magazines, and I’ve never written to yours before, though I’ve enjoyed and learned much from it for many years thanks to it being produced in Braille. But I couldn’t let your article on swearing relieving pain [“%$!” makes you feel better,” (SN: 8/1/09, p. 9)] go by. Without […]

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  5. Book Review: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

    Review by Laura Sanders.

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  6. Book Review: Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style by Randy Olson

    Review by Sid Perkins.

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  7. Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych ER by Julie Holland

    A psychiatrist shares anecdotes from her career treating the mentally ill at the nation’s oldest public hospital. Bantam Books, 2009, 308 p., $25. WEEKENDS AT BELLEVUE: NINE YEARS ON THE NIGHT SHIFT AT THE PSYCH ER BY JULIE HOLLAND

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  8. Salt Marshes: A Natural and Unnatural History by Judith S. Weis and Carol A. Butler

    A biologist and writer team up to describe human impacts on salt marshes. Rutgers Univ., 2009, 254 p., $23.95. SALT MARSHES: A NATURAL AND UNNATURAL HISTORY BY JUDITH S. WEIS AND CAROL A. BUTLER

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  9. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 12

    The latest volume of Einstein’s collected works, containing hundreds of letters and transcripts of lectures and interviews. Princeton Univ., 2009, 609 p., $125. THE COLLECTED PAPERS OF ALBERT EINSTEIN, VOL. 12

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  10. Pluto Confidential: An Insider Account of the Ongoing Battles over the Status of Pluto by Laurence A. Marschall and Stephen P. Maran

    Two astronomers report on the controversies surrounding Pluto’s planethood or lack thereof. BenBella Books, 2009, 223 p., $14.95. PLUTO CONFIDENTIAL: AN INSIDER ACCOUNT OF THE ONGOING BATTLES OVER THE STATUS OF PLUTO BY LAURENCE A. MARSCHALL AND STEPHEN P. MARAN

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  11. Armadillo Trail: The Northward Journey of the Armadillo by Stephen R. Swinburne

    The story of an armadillo and her pups introduces young readers to the mammals. Boyds Mills Press, 2009, 32 p., $16.95. ARMADILLO TRAIL: THE NORTHWARD JOURNEY OF THE ARMADILLO BY STEPHEN R. SWINBURNE

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  12. Humans

    A gene critical for speech

    Scientists argue a newly discovered stretch of DNA essential for larynx development may have allowed the evolution of language.

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