Vol. 170 No. #7
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More Stories from the August 12, 2006 issue

  1. Astronomy

    Braking news: Disks slow down stars

    Astronomers have the first clear-cut evidence that rotating young stars are slowed by the planet-forming disks of gas and dust that surround many of them.

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  2. Poor sleep can accompany schizophrenia

    The biological clocks in people with schizophrenia often are disturbed, if not broken.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Blood sugar and spice

    Eating cayenne pepper with meals may mitigate a hormonal response to food that's linked to diabetes.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Scientists find midnight-snack center in brain

    Researchers have tracked down the location of a body clock that appears to be regulated by food.

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  5. Earth

    As glaciers shrink, the Alps get taller

    The melting of massive glaciers in the Alps is removing weight from those peaks and causing them to gain altitude.

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  6. Blood clot protein is stretchiest natural fiber ever found

    The protein that forms the backbone of blood clots can stretch to several times its own length and then snap back to its original size.

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  7. Earth

    Obsidian artifacts can record ancient climate

    The layer of hydrated material that forms on the surface of ancient obsidian artifacts as they age can be used to estimate the temperatures that the artifacts have experienced.

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  8. Tech

    Glare gives silicon goose bumps

    New experiments show that fluorescent lights cause undesirable bumpiness on the surface of silicon, identifying what may be a previously unrecognized cause of flaws in microchips that could become increasingly important.

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  9. Bad Vibrations? Ultrasound disturbs mouse brains

    Prolonged and frequent use of fetal ultrasound might lead to abnormal fetal brain development, a study in mice suggests.

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  10. Earth

    Macho Moms: Perchlorate pollutant masculinizes fish

    Perchlorate, a compound best known as a component of rocket fuel, can disrupt sexual development in fish.

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  11. Paleontology

    New View: Method looks inside embryo fossils

    Using an X-ray–scanning technique, scientists have taken a high-resolution peek inside fossilized embryos of some early multicellular organisms.

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  12. Astronomy

    Solar System Small Fry: Stellar blinks reveal tiny bodies near Pluto

    By measuring tiny dips in the intensity of X rays from a distant star, astronomers say they have detected more than 50 of the tiniest chunks of ice ever found in the outer solar system.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    Need for Speed: Faster-acting tuberculosis drugs now in testing would limit deaths

    Drugs that take only 2 months to cure tuberculosis instead of the usual 6 months could prevent millions of TB infections and deaths.

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  14. Health & Medicine

    Total Recall: Drug shows long-lasting boosts of memory in rats

    Research in rats shows that an experimental drug completely regenerates parts of the brain crucial to forming memories.

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  15. Ecosystems

    Fish as Farmers: Reef residents tend an algal crop

    A damselfish cultivates underwater gardens of an algal species that researchers haven't found growing on its own.

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  16. Animals

    Crouching Scientist, Hidden Dragonfly

    Although dragonflies are among the most familiar of insects, science is just beginning to unravel their complex life stories.

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  17. Outside Looking In

    A new wave of research offers insights into the nature and causes of Asperger syndrome, a condition related to autism that's characterized by social cluelessness, repetitive behavior, and unusually narrow interests.

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  18. Humans

    Letters from the August 12, 2006, issue of Science News

    Dates of contention Are the dates quoted in “Stones of Contention: Tiny Homo species tied to ancient tool tradition” (SN: 6/3/06, p. 341) correct? I didn’t think Homo existed as a genus 840,000 years ago. David AdamsBoothwyn, Pa. Fossil finds indicate that the Homo genus originated roughly 2.4 million years ago.—B. Bower No juicy story […]

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