Vol. 173 No. #14
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More Stories from the April 5, 2008 issue

  1. High CO2—a gourmet boon for crop pest

    Relatively high concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide weaken soybean defenses against Japanese beetles.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Microbes weigh in on obesity

    The kinds of microbes living in an infant's gut may influence weight gain later in childhood.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    New drug curbs rheumatoid arthritis in adults, children

    The experimental drug tocilizumab quells rheumatoid arthritis in adults and children by inhibiting an inflammatory compound called interleukin-6.

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  4. Earth

    Tibetan Plateau history gets a lift

    The Tibetan Plateau formed when the Indian and Eurasian plates collided, but scientists may have had the order of events wrong.

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  5. Materials Science

    Squid beaks are hardly soft

    Water softens squid beaks toward their base, so they don't cut into the squid's own soft tissue.

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  6. Rare mutations tied to schizophrenia

    Individual-specific DNA deletions and duplications, many located in genes involved in brain development, occur in an unusually large percentage of people with schizophrenia.

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  7. Without Substance: ADHD meds don’t up kids’ drug abuse risk

    Boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder who take prescribed stimulant medication don't become more likely to abuse drugs than boys who don't receive the medication.

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  8. Planetary Science

    Caught in the Act? Images may reveal planetary birth

    Astronomers, for the first time, have imaged dusty clumps surrounding young stars that could be planets in the making.

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  9. Animals

    Night Flights: Migrating moths may use a nighttime compass

    Silver Y moths choose to fly when wind blows in the same direction that they migrate, and they may even compensate when the wind pushes them off-course.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Curbing Chemo: Fasting cushions drug’s side effects in mice

    Two days of starvation kicks mice's cells into repair mode and helps them endure high doses of chemotherapy.

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  11. Paleontology

    Salty Old Cellulose: Tiny fibers found in ancient halite deposits

    Researchers have recovered microscopic bits of cellulose from 253-million-year-old salt deposits deep underground.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Traveling Toxin: Botox may hitch a ride on nerve cells

    New evidence suggests that Botox migrates from the injection site, perhaps traveling along nerve cells.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    Take a Breath: Fatty substance may play role in cystic fibrosis

    A fatty compound called ceramide that accumulates in lung cells may be instrumental in the devastating disease cystic fibrosis.

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  14. Animals

    Comb jellies take root in a new tree of animal life

    A team of biologists places comb jellies, not sponges, at the base of a new tree of animal life.

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  15. Materials Science

    Quantum Cocoon

    Diamond can hold quantum information even at room temperature, which makes it a candidate material for future quantum computers.

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  16. Health & Medicine

    You, in a Dish

    Human cells grown in conditions that mimic life inside the body are beginning to replace lab animals for testing drug candidates and industrial chemicals.

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  17. Humans

    Letters from the April 5, 2008, issue of Science News

    Follow the glow “State of the Universe: Microwave glow powers cosmic insights” (SN: 3/15/08, p. 163) brings up a question. This glow should be stronger in one direction, which can point us to the center of the universe. Is this possible? Donald BurrNovato, Calif. Studies of the microwave glow reveal that Earth is moving surprisingly […]

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