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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Why 6 feet may not be enough social distance to avoid COVID-19

    Scientists who study airflow warn that virus-laden drops may travel farther than thought.

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  2. Physics

    Here’s how the periodic table gets new elements

    Today’s scientists keep adding to the periodic table. But an element has to earn its spot.

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  3. Climate

    The largest Arctic ozone hole ever measured is hovering over the North Pole

    A strong polar vortex in early 2020 led to what may be a record-breaking hole in the ozone layer over the Arctic.

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  4. Life

    Algae use flagella to trot, gallop and move with gaits all their own

    Single-celled microalgae, with no brains, can coordinate their “limbs” into a trot or fancier gait.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    You can help fight the coronavirus. All you need is a computer

    With Folding@home, people can donate computing time on their home computers to the search for a chemical Achilles’ heel in the coronavirus.

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  6. Chemistry

    Evaporating mixtures of two liquids create hypnotic designs

    Through the magic of surface tension, mixtures of two liquids form fingerlike protrusions and other patterns as droplets evaporate.

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  7. Life

    A new lizard parasite is the first known to move from mom to baby

    Nematodes were found living in a lizard’s ovaries and the braincase of her embryos — the first evidence of a reptile parasite that jumps generations.

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  8. Physics

    How to make the best fried rice, according to physics

    Researchers show exactly how rocking and sliding a wok can launch fried rice into the air, letting it cook at a high temperature without burning.

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  9. Life

    Wolves regurgitate blueberries for their pups to eat

    The behavior, documented for the first time, suggests that fruit may be more important to wolves than previously thought.

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  10. Life

    How thin, delicate butterfly wings keep from overheating

    Structures in butterfly wings help living tissues such as veins release more heat than the rest of the wing.

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  11. Space

    ESA’s Solar Orbiter will be the first spacecraft to study the sun’s polar zones

    ESA's Solar Orbiter is now on its way to the sun, beginning a nearly two-year journey.

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  12. Earth

    Here are 5 of the weirdest auroras, including the newly spotted ‘dunes’

    A newfound type of aurora dubbed the “dunes” joins the ranks of black auroras, STEVE and other obscure auroral phenomena.

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