Uncategorized
- Humans
Evolution at the Academies
The National Academies have unveiled a new resource for the public on evolution. The Web site provides access to books, position statements, and additional material on evolution education and research. Go to: http://nationalacademies.org/evolution/
- Animals
He Clones, She Clones: Dad, mom ants as different species
In the little fire ant, males and queens clone themselves, the closest science has gotten to declaring males and females as separate species.
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Mother Knows Worst: Abusive parenting spans generations in monkeys
Many female rhesus monkeys who were abused as infants by their mothers do the same to their own infants, raising the prospect of using these animals as a model for human child abuse.
- Planetary Science
Pebbles from Heaven: Tracking planets in the making
Recording radio waves from the region around a young star, astronomers have for the first time documented the making pebbles, a key step in the rocky road to planethood.
- Earth
Bacteria Ride the Tide: Moon’s phases predict water quality at beaches
At many ocean beaches, full and new moons coincide with the greatest concentrations of bacteria in the water.
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Muscle Men: Lab-grown cells mirror source’s characteristics
Researchers studying muscle cells maintained in petri dishes burn sugar and fat with the same efficiency as do the people from whom the cells are isolated.
- Chemistry
Inside a melting crystal
A model crystal made of water-saturated polymer spheres shows that small defects in a crystal can cause it to melt from the inside out.
- Health & Medicine
Running Interference: Fresh approach to fighting inflammation
Two experimental drugs stop inflammation in mice by preserving a natural inflammation inhibitor.
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Sleepless in SeaWorld: Some newborns and moms forgo slumber
Orca-whale and dolphin babies and their mothers appear to skip sleep for as long as a month after the pups' birth.
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Why should the whale study lead scientists to “change the way we view sleep”? Among whales, the priority is that babies not drown in the first weeks of life. Maturational processes thought to occur during sleep, such as brain development, might have to be put on hold while this critical lesson is learned. Our neonatal […]
- Plants
Long search reveals cell receptor for plant growth
More than 70 years after biologists identified the important plant growth hormone auxin, they have finally found a cell-receptor molecule for it.
- Health & Medicine
Sleepy teens haven’t got circadian rhythm
High schools that begin classes as early as 7:30 a.m. deprive teenagers of sleep, and attempts to reset an adolescent's biological clock fail to solve the problem.
