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  1. Earth

    Enjoy the beach. . .while it’s still there

    Up to a quarter of the structures within 500 feet of America's coastlines may be lost to erosion in the next 60 years, according to a report issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency last week.

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  2. Tech

    Magnifier May Crack Crimes, Crashes

    Gumshoes equipped with a novel device for magnifying magnetic fields may spy clues on damaged, erased, or deliberately corrupted audio tapes and other magnetic media.

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  3. Humans

    From the February 4, 1933, issue

    SUPERLATIVE SPLENDOR REVEALED BY EXCAVATIONS IN PERSIA Eastern magnificence that surrounded Persian emperors 2,500 years ago is revealed by excavations at Persepolis. Palaces of the kings are being brought to light there by Dr. Ernest Herzfeld excavating for the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The sculptured walls arouse comparisons with glories of one […]

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  4. Physics

    Powers of Ten

    Florida State University’s “Molecular Expressions” Web site offers a fascinating sequence of images, each one 10 times bigger or smaller in scale than the one preceding or following it. The journey ranges from a view of the universe 10 million light years away from the Milky Way to an impressionistic glimpse of a diminutive sea […]

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  5. Physics

    Quantum computers to keep an eye on

    A primitive ion-based computer exploiting the weirdness of quantum mechanics has taken an important step forward in problem solving.

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  6. Humans

    Talent Found: Top science students chosen in 62nd annual competition

    Forty wunderkinder, named as finalists in the annual Intel Science Talent Search, will collect $530,000 in scholarships for original research in science, mathematics, and engineering.

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  7. Earth

    Putting Whales to Work: Cetaceans provide cheap labor in the icy deep

    Whales equipped with environmental sensors discover warm water beneath Arctic ice.

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  8. Heat-Seeking Missiles: Sperm may follow rising temperature to egg

    In a process called thermotaxis, sperm cells may use a temperature gradient in the fallopian tubes to find their way to an unfertilized egg.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Rackets and Radicals: Noise may cause gene damage in heart

    Exposure to loud, continuous sound can scatter free radicals within heart tissue and cause injury to cells' DNA even after the din subsides, new animal research suggests.

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  10. Chemistry

    Shark Sense: Gel helps animals detect thermal fluctuations

    New studies suggest that clear jelly under sharks' skin can enable the animals to detect minute changes in seawater temperature—potentially leading them to prey.

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  11. Math

    Sliding-Coin Puzzles

    Geometric arrangements of coins can serve as the basis for all sorts of puzzles. One popular variant involves going from one configuration to another by sliding coins, subject to given constraints, and doing so in the fewest possible moves. Rearrange the rhombus into a circle using three moves. Turn the triangle upside-down in three moves. […]

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  12. Animals

    Better Than Real: Males prefer flower’s scent to female wasp’s

    In an extreme case of sex fakery, an orchid produces oddball chemicals to mimic a female wasp's allure so well that males prefer the flower scent to the real thing.

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