Vol. 180 No. #5
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More Stories from the August 27, 2011 issue

  1. Physics

    Particle discovery fills a gap

    The neutral xi-sub-b is the eighth of nine predicted family members to be found.

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  2. Psychology

    Kids share, chimps stash

    Divvying up goods comes easily to 3-year-old kids but not to adult chimps, a finding with evolutionary implications.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    ‘Wave of death’ may not be a last gasp

    A minute after decapitation, a rat's severed head shows signs of life.

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  4. Space

    Going where no Mars rover has gone before

    NASA's next Mars mission, Curiosity, will land in the Red Planet's Gale Crater.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Tossing, turning, forgetting

    A new study in mice finds that sleep disturbance erodes memory.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Chimp brains don’t shrink

    Primate studies aim to find out why humans get dementia.

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  7. Humans

    Humans

    Ancient root eaters, copycat games and facing danger together in this week’s news.

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  8. Physics

    No new physics — yet

    The world's largest collider has failed to match odd results coming from its nearest rival.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Better transplants through centrifuging

    Removing some antibodies from the blood of kidney recipients can improve their long-term outlooks, a study finds.

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  10. Physics

    C’mon radio, let’s do the twist

    Molding signals into spiral shape might expand airwaves’ capacity.

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  11. Life

    Dolphin may sense the body electric

    Organs on the species' snout help it detect faint fields, like those generated by prey.

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  12. Life

    DNA switches tied to non-Hodgkin lymphoma

    Genetic defects lead to altered activity in other genes.

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  13. Life

    Wasp has built-in Facebook

    An insect species with a tricky social life has a special facility for telling one bug's mug from another.

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  14. Life

    A cougar in Connecticut

    Using DNA and trailside cameras, wildlife biologists retrace the 18-month, 2,000-mile journey of a young male cat.

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  15. Materials Science

    Now, an invisibility cloak you can see

    Physicists have developed a device that can hide objects in visible wavelengths.

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  16. Science Future for August 27, 2011

    September 6 In New York City, author Joshua Foer discusses the history and science of competitive memorization. See www.nyas.org September 15 Deadline to submit photos illustrating “chemistry in our microbes” to the Colors of Chemistry calendar contest. For info go to colorsofchemistry.org

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  17. SN Online

    SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC BLOG Smoke-exposed kids are more likely to have neuro-behavioral disorders. See “Young minds at risk from secondhand smoke.” BODY & BRAIN At-risk newborns may avoid death and disability by cooling off. See “News in Brief: Body & Brain.” Active neurons trigger changes that speed up signaling. Read “How exercise benefits nerve […]

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  18. Material Objects Seen as Holes in Space by British Scientist

    A close examination of the math of quantum mechanics led to the prediscovery of antimatter particles in 1930.

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  19. Lip Service: Smiles in Life, Death, Trust, Lies, Work, Memory, Sex, and Politics by Marianne LaFrance

    A psychologist examines the science of smiles and their many social uses, from a baby’s enticing grin to a bully’s malicious smirk. W.W. Norton, 2011, 321 p., $26.95

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  20. The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices: How the Digital Magicians of the MIT Media Lab Are Creating the Innovative Technologies That Will Transform Our Lives by Frank Moss

    Preview some of the new technologies that the digital wizards at the MIT Media Lab are cooking up, from a foldable car to robotic feet. Crown Business, 2011, 272 p., $27.50

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  21. Vulture by Thom van Dooren

    The much-maligned birds get their due attention in this thoughtful look at vultures’ natural and cultural history. Reaktion Books, 2011, 192 p., $19.95

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  22. The Bleeding Disease: Hemophilia and the Unintended Consequences of Medical Progress by Stephen Pemberton

    A historian shows how advances in treatment made hemophilia manageable — yet led to many deaths from HIV-tainted plasma. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2011, 377 p., $50

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  23. BOOK REVIEW: The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World by Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack

    Review by Ron Cowen.

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  24. BOOK REVIEW: The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci’s Arithmetic Revolution by Keith Devlin

    Review by Devin Powell.

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  25. Tech

    Sparing the rare earths

    Potential shortages of useful metals inspire scientists to seek alternatives for magnet technologies

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  26. The Color of Controversy

    Link between food dyes, childhood hyperactivity gets renewed attention.

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  27. When Birds Go to Town

    Urban settings offer enterprising critters new opportunities — if they can cope with the challenges 

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  28. Science Past from the issue of August 26, 1961

    EARTH ONCE GLOWED — The earth’s surface in its early years of life may have glowed like a beautiful rainbow, shimmering with the colorful array of light emitted by primitive organisms. Light emission may have occurred soon after life appeared on earth, when the atmosphere lacked oxygen…. As small amounts of oxygen appeared in the […]

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  29. The Book of Universes by John D. Barrow

    Explore this universe and the many others that may be possible in this tour of the science and scientists behind theories of the multiverse. W.W. Norton, 2011, 354 p., $26.95

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