Vol. 183 No. #3
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More Stories from the February 9, 2013 issue

  1. Health & Medicine

    Inactivated virus shows promise against HIV

    Some patients getting an experimental vaccine therapy developed immunity.

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  2. Chemistry

    Hottest temperature ever measured is a negative one

    Ultracold gas sets record on the kelvin scale.

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  3. Humans

    Language learning may begin before birth

    Newborns show signs of having tracked moms’ speech while still in the womb.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Long space missions may be hazardous to your sleep

    Crew on simulated Mars trip moved less and slept more during 520-day project.

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  5. Life

    Corals beat heat by being prepared

    Warming waters have little effect on reef-building organisms that activate adaptive genes before the temperature starts to rise.

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  6. Life

    City lights create sexual early birds

    Male blackbirds exposed to nocturnal illumination are ready to mate sooner in spring.

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  7. Earth

    Quakes may bring nearby rocks closer to rupture

    Lab studies could explain how a seemingly stable geologic fault can fail.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Updated Pap smear detects ovarian, uterine cancers

    Adding a genetic analysis to the procedure reveals mutations specific to the two malignancies.

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  9. Humans

    Wrist bones said to distinguish hobbits

    New fossils enter the debate over tiny humanlike species that lived in Indonesia.

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  10. Humans

    Pruney digits help people get a grip

    Finger and toe wrinkling may have evolved as an adaptation to wet conditions.

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  11. Physics

    New clock revolves around an atom’s mass

    A controversial new study claims that time can be measured by precisely determining a single particle's heft.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Newborns’ brains bear signs of adult illnesses

    Disease genes associated with reduced volume in certain regions at birth.

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  13. Earth

    Glaciers carve path for future buildup

    Previously sculpted landscapes accumulate ice more quickly than steep valleys.

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  14. Humans

    Cold spells were dark times in Eastern Europe

    Cooler periods coincided with conflicts and disease outbreaks, a tree-ring study spanning the last millennium finds.

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  15. Animals

    Claims of fairness in apes have critics crying foul

    A report that chimps divvy up rewards much as people do draws criticism.

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  16. Earth

    Chemical tied to intergenerational obesity

    Mice ingesting the compound tributyltin pass effects to grandchildren.

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  17. Space

    Life has prospects on moons of giant extrasolar planets

    Astronomers show how bodies orbiting distant Jupiters could be habitable.

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  18. Humans

    Ancient human DNA suggests minimal interbreeding

    Genetic analysis indicates Stone Age people mated infrequently with Neandertals and other close relatives.

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  19. Health & Medicine

    Brain region associated with selfishness

    In three women, damage to basolateral amygdala prompted unusual generosity.

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  20. Humans

    STS finalists bound for Washington

    Forty vie for top awards in 2013 Intel Science Talent Search.

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  21. Health & Medicine

    Drug restores lost hearing

    Loud noises can damage sensitive inner ear cells called hair cells, which in mammals don’t grow back.

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  22. Animals

    Integrative and Comparative Biology

    The hormonal roller coaster that is male pipefish pregancy and collision safety features for flying insects.

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  23. Life

    Reprieve for reprogrammed stem cells

    A study published in 2011 in Nature found that stem cells produced by reprogramming mouse skin cells get attacked when transplanted back into mice.

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  24. Life

    Genes indicate Stone Age link between India and Australia

    Genetic evidence suggests some people migrated from India to Australia roughly 4,300 years ago.

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  25. Life

    Genes tied to body mass set point

    Genes may help determine why some mice (and perhaps people) become obese when eating a sugar- and fat-laden diet.

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  26. Humans

    Tackling women’s pro football

    Tackling women’s pro football.

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  27. Science Future for February 9, 2013

    February 16 – 17 Kids can see science demonstrations, learn about cool science careers and talk to scientists at the annual Family Science Days at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston. Learn more at bit.ly/SFfamday2013 March 7 The Creatures of Light exhibit on bioluminescence comes to Chicago’s Field Museum. Find […]

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  28. SN Online

    MATH TREK Economists say auction-based purchasing could create market chaos. See Julie Rehmeyer’s column “Devil is in the details of a new Medicare plan to buy medical supplies.” P. Mercier et al/Nature Biotechnology 2012 SCIENCE NEWS FOR KIDS Research in guinea pigs finds a way to power small electronic devices using a voltage difference in […]

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  29. BOOK REVIEW: The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond

    Review by Nathan Seppa.

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  30. Henri Poincaré: A Scientific Biography by Jeremy Gray

    This comprehensive biography of the mathematician details his life and contributions to math, physics and philosophy. Princeton Univ., 2012, 593 p., $35

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  31. Science & Society

    Guesstimation 2.0

    Solving Today's Problems on the Back of a Napkin 2.0 by Lawrence Weinstein.

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  32. Walking Sideways: The Remarkable World of Crabs by Judith S. Weis

    A biologist pens a tribute to crabs, exploring everything from their life cycles and behavior to the many ways humans eat them. Cornell Univ., 2012, 224 p., $29.95

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  33. Cycling Science: How Rider and Machine Work Together by Max Glaskin

    The physics of two-wheeled locomotion gets deep coverage in this illustrated overview for the bike-obsessed. Univ. of Chicago, 2012, 192 p., $30

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  34. A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change by John Glassie

    The eccentric life of the insatiably curious, but often wrong, 17th century scholar Athanasius Kircher is explored in this tale of his influence on science. Riverhead Books, 2012, 335 p., $26.95

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  35. Life

    Group to Group

    Wild chimpanzees pick up ant-fishing behavior from a female immigrant.

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  36. Humans

    Urban Eyes

    Too much time spent indoors may be behind a surge in nearsightedness.

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  37. Chemistry

    Disorder at Work

    Proteins without a definite shape can still take on important jobs.

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  38. Letters

    Weighing factors in obesity In “Obesity research gets weightier” (SN: 12/29/12, p. 28) Nathan Seppa says that green space and a nearby grocery store reduce the incidence of obesity. I think I understand how the green space affects it (clean air, physical activity, et cetera), but I don’t understand how the grocery store does. Is […]

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  39. Science Past from the issue of February 9, 1963

    DIG DITCHES WITH ATOMS — Digging earth by atomic explosions is proving successful, but if President Kennedy’s suspension of underground atomic testing on Jan. 26 is maintained, the method may not be used practically. Future excavation experiments are described for the first time by the Atomic Energy Commission in its annual report to Congress. The […]

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  40. BOOK REVIEW: Heat: Adventures in the World’s Fiery Places by Bill Streever

    Review by Allison Bohac.

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