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Infants emerge as picky imitators
By the age of 14 months, babies display a feel for evaluating the sensibility of an adult's behavior and either imitating the means to a goal or opting for a simpler way to achieve the same result.
By Bruce Bower - Astronomy
The Milky Way’s Middle
Sensitive X-ray, infrared, and radio telescopes are now providing an extraordinarily clear view of the dust-shrouded center of our galaxy.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s vaccine trial is suspended
A drug company in Ireland has halted tests of an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.
By John Travis - Tech
Itsy chain turns bitsy gears
A tiny chain with links the size of biological cells offers a new way to deliver power to micromachines.
By Peter Weiss -
Disorder Decline: U.S. mental ills take controversial dip
Far fewer people suffer from mental disorders requiring treatment than was initially indicated by two national surveys.
By Bruce Bower -
Cool Discovery: Menthol triggers cold-sensing protein
A cell-surface protein that lets ions flow into cells responds to menthol and cool temperatures.
By John Travis - Astronomy
X-Ray Universe: Quasar’s jet goes the distance
Collisions with photons left over from the birth of the universe appear to have generated the longest X ray-emitting jet ever found in a distant galaxy.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Vitamin Void: Heart disease may lurk in B12 deficiency
Meatless eating typically improves cardiovascular health, but a dietary shortage of vitamin B12 may lead to an overabundance of the amino acid homocysteine in some vegetarians, which could pose a risk to their hearts.
By Ben Harder - Ecosystems
Biodiversity Hot Spots: Top 10 sea locales make sobering list
Biologists have identified the world's most vulnerable coral reefs, each with organisms found nowhere else and threatened by human influence.
- Health & Medicine
Antibody Warfare: Vaccine halts microbes in dialysis patients
A vaccine protects many kidney-dialysis patients from blood infection caused by the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium.
By Nathan Seppa - Materials Science
Better Stainless: Analysis could bring pits out of the steel
The key to developing pit-resistant stainless steel is to correct the dearth of chromium atoms around inclusions in the alloy.
By Sid Perkins - Health & Medicine
Low birth weight matters later, too
Premature babies weighing less than 1.5 kilograms at birth grow up to have lower achievement scores on standard tests and are less likely to go to college than are full-term babies weighing more than twice as much.
By Nathan Seppa