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  1. Humans

    Our Final Invention

    Computers already make all sorts of decisions for you. Imagine if the machines controlled even more aspects of life and could truly think for themselves.

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  2. Earth

    Trees mark the spot of buried gold

    Tiny bits of the precious metal in eucalyptus leaves indicate treasure lurks belowground.

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  3. Humans

    Medicine’s future inspired by science fiction

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  4. Environment

    Feedback

    Readers respond to "Solving soot," trade-offs of horn size for male Soay sheep and the huge galactic explosion story from 50 years ago.

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  5. Physics

    Oldest pitch-drop experiment

    The allure of pitch — a black tarlike hydro-carbon by-product of distilling petroleum, wood or coal — comes from its split personality: It shatters from a quick hit with a hammer, but flows if set aside for long periods.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Infant digestive problem more likely with formula

    Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, which causes forceful vomiting, is more common in babies not breast-fed.

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  7. Agriculture

    Fertilizer has staying power

    Nitrogen-based fertilizer may remain in the soil for eight decades, complicating efforts to reduce pollution from runoff into rivers.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Seek Meningitis Vaccine

    Excerpt from the November 9, 1963, issue of SCIENCE NEWS LETTER.

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  9. Animals

    The colorful lives of squid

    Your calamari, it turns out, may have come from a temporary transvestite with rainbows in its armpits.

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  10. Planetary Science

    A grander canyon on Mars

    Hebes Chasma, a huge trough on Mars, reflects the Red Planet’s tumultuous and varied past.

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  11. Genetics

    Family takes on progeria in ‘Life According to Sam’

    A new documentary portrays an extraordinary search for a cure spurred by a teen with the premature aging disease.

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  12. Neuroscience

    3-D effects may require one eye only

    Peering through a peephole can bring flat images to life.

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