Uncategorized

  1. Science & Society

    ‘Enlightening Symbols’ shows how math’s language arose

    From numerals to infinity, symbols have advanced mathematical thinking.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    ‘NOVA’ takes science’s side in vaccine debate

    A TV documentary dissects concerns about vaccinations and spells out the science supporting their use.

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  3. Life

    Feedback

    Readers discuss Dulles' microscapes exhibit, baby birthweights and what should be done about the triclosan problem.

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  4. Earth

    Sometimes value lies deep below the surface

    Stories on jellyfish, Ebola, carbon capture's future and heart disease's past reveal how crises old and new often lead to science's healthiest advances.

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  5. Environment

    Carbon capture and storage finally approaching debut

    Carbon capture and storage offers a way to rein in global carbon emissions. But financial and regulatory obstacles, as well as public fears, are delaying the technology’s long-awaited implementation.

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  6. Animals

    Seeing past the jellyfish sting

    Jellies don’t get nearly as much love as their cousins, the corals, but they deserve credit for providing homes to some creatures, dinner to others and more. They’re an integral part of the oceans.

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  7. Materials Science

    Magnets get flipped by light

    Controlling magnetism with lasers could lead to faster computer hard drives.

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  8. Climate

    Multiple oceans may help stall global warming

    The Atlantic and Southern oceans, not the Pacific, may be largely to blame for the recent pause in rising global temperatures.

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  9. Animals

    Hummingbirds evolved a strange taste for sugar

    While other birds seem to lack the ability to taste sugar, hummingbirds detect sweetness using a repurposed sensor that normally responds to savory flavors.

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  10. Astronomy

    Distance to quasars debated

    Some astronomers thought quasars were buzzing around our galaxy; turns out these starlike objects live on the other side of the universe.

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  11. Ecosystems

    Lake under Antarctic ice bursts with life

    Abundant microbes thrive in subglacial lakes deep under the Antarctic ice sheet.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Experimental drugs and vaccines poised to take on Ebola

    The use of experimental drugs and vaccines against Ebola may turn the tide against an outbreak in Africa that has defied efforts to control it.

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