Uncategorized

  1. Neuroscience

    Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why

    Scott Weems, a neuroscientist, takes readers on a wide-ranging tour that explains what humor is and why readers should care.

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  2. Astronomy

    This winter warrior made the gravitational waves discovery possible

    Engineer Steffen Richter played an important role in the recent gravitational waves discovery, wintering at the Amundsen-Scott research station at the South Pole and making daily treks to keep the BICEP2 telescope running.

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  3. Materials Science

    Light filter lets rays through from only one direction

    Angle-sensitive light filter could improve photography, telescopes and solar energy harvesting.

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  4. Neuroscience

    Ten thousand neurons linked to behaviors in fly

    By studying the wiggles of 37,780 fly larvae, scientists link specific neurons to 29 distinct behaviors.

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  5. Humans

    Childhood program improves health 30 years later

    A preschool intervention for kids from poor families benefits their health as adults, especially among men.

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  6. Life

    First chromosome made synthetically from yeast

    Work with yeast marks the first time scientists have synthesized a chromosome from organisms with complex cells and represents a major step toward lab-created eukaryotic life.

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  7. Psychology

    Grief takes its toll

    A person’s risk of heart attack or stroke is doubled in the month following the death of a spouse or partner.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Diet fix eases Huntington’s symptoms in mice

    Supplement improves health of rodents with mutation that causes neurodegeneration like that seen in Huntington’s disease.

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  9. Life

    With Taxol, chromosomes divide and get conquered

    New mechanism discovered for how the cancer drug Taxol works.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Icy rings found around tiny space rock

    Astronomers discover an icy ring around the planetoid Chariklo, held in place by unseen moons.

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  11. Paleontology

    Ancient oceans’ top predator was gentle filter feeder

    New fossils suggest that a distant relative of lobsters used bristled limbs to net its prey, not spike it.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Icy planetoid found lurking at edge of solar system

    Astronomers discovered an icy planetoid orbiting beyond the edge of the Kuiper belt.

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