Vol. 189 No. 4
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More Stories from the February 20, 2016 issue

  1. Oceans

    Phytoplankton flunk photosynthesis efficiency test

    Nutrient-poor ocean waters make phytoplankton photosynthesis inefficient

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  2. Life

    Signs of food allergies may be present at birth

    Overactive immune cells may prime babies for food allergies.

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  3. Environment

    PCB levels still high in Europe’s killer whales, smaller dolphins

    PCBs banned for decades still show up at extremely high concentrations in Europe’s killer whales and other dolphins.

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  4. Archaeology

    Humans visited Arctic earlier than thought

    Human weapon injuries on mammoth bones show humans were in the Arctic up to 15,000 years earlier than researchers thought.

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  5. Neuroscience

    Measuring brain waves may help predict a patient’s response to anesthesia

    Brain signatures hint at whether a person will resist or succumb to anesthesia.

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  6. Oceans

    Ocean heating doubles

    Earth’s oceans now absorb twice as much heat as they did 18 years ago, with more than a third of that warmth going into the ocean depths.

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  7. Life

    MicroRNAs manage gut microbes

    MicroRNAs mold gut microbes into healthier communities for the host.

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  8. Anthropology

    Attack 10,000 years ago is earliest known act of warfare

    Human skeletons unearthed in East Africa show signs of a roughly 10,000-year-old lethal raid.

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  9. Planetary Science

    Time running out on comet lander

    Philae’s days are numbered as temperatures on comet 67P drop and attempts to communicate with the lander fail.

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  10. Climate

    2015 smashed heat records

    Spurred by global warming and a “super El Niño,” 2015 now ranks as the warmest year since record-keeping began in 1880.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Rapid spread of Zika virus in the Americas raises alarm

    After blazing through Brazil, a mosquito-borne virus called Zika, which may cause birth defects, is now poised to jump to the United States.

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  12. Environment

    Converted milk proteins clean pollution, strike gold

    A new membrane uses sticky amyloid proteins to trap contaminants in water.

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  13. Tech

    Online reading behavior predicts stock movements

    People's current web surfing patterns predict future stock movements. The discovery could help authorities to stabilize financial markets.

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  14. Quantum Physics

    Quantum histories get all tangled up

    Multiple versions of history may be quantum entangled just like particles, a new experiment suggests.

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  15. Neuroscience

    Immune system gene leads to schizophrenia clue

    Excessive snipping of nerve cell connections may contribute to schizophrenia.

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  16. Planetary Science

    Computer simulations heat up hunt for Planet Nine

    A giant planet in the far outer solar system could explain orbital oddities of bodies in the fringes of the Kuiper belt.

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  17. Animals

    Harvester ants are restless, enigmatic architects

    Florida harvester ants dig complex, curly nests over, then leave and do it again.

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  18. Science & Society

    Soviets nailed first landing on moon

    The first spacecraft to safely land on the moon touched down on the lunar surface in 1966.

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  19. Agriculture

    Plants trick bacteria into attacking too soon

    Scientists have discovered that a plant compound interferes with bacterial communication.

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  20. Tech

    Pill measures gut gas

    A gas-sensing ingestible capsule tested in pigs could someday help doctors assess people’s gastrointestinal health.

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  21. Animals

    Tegu lizards warm up for mating

    Despite their cold-blooded reputation, tegu lizards boost their body heat while on the prowl for a mate, biologists report online January 22 in Science Advances.

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  22. Genetics

    Bubonic plague hung out in Europe

    The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis may have lurked in a medieval European reservoir for at least 300 years, researchers from Germany suggest January 13 in PLOS ONE.

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