Vol. 177 No. #2
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More Stories from the January 16, 2010 issue

  1. Health & Medicine

    Nearsightedness increasing in the United States

    A new study suggests that myopia has increased by more than 60 percent since the 1970s.

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  2. Earth

    Irrigation draining California groundwater at ‘unsustainable’ pace

    The GRACE satellites have tracked water movement from the Central Valley since 2003.

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  3. Life

    Virus makes plants lie to insects

    Infected squash plants smell delicious but taste terrible – perfect combination for tricking aphids into spreading disease

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  4. Space

    Super-Earth found close by, may host water

    Astronomers say this discovery and others suggest that finding habitable planets is 'only a matter of time.'

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  5. Earth

    For coots, hatching order is crucial ID

    When birds sneak eggs into others' nest, mom and dad can learn to find their own.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Gene variant may help against emphysema, asthma

    Uncommon version seems to lessen risk of lung disease in smokers.

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  7. Physics

    Frozen light stays fresh longer

    Researchers have trapped light in an ultracold cloud of atoms for 1.5 seconds.

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  8. Climate

    Carbon dioxide: Blame where blame is due?

    Blog: Measuring outsourcing of greenhouse gases. From the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

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  9. Earth

    Cameras catch underwater volcano in the act

    Seafloor eruption in the South Pacific is the deepest and most violent yet seen.

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  10. Life

    Do-it-yourself bed-bug detector

    With bed-bug numbers on the rise in North America, researchers test homemade bug finders.

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  11. Space

    Herschel Space Observatory sees stars being born

    A recently launched infrared observatory has discovered about 700 newly forming stars.

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  12. Life

    Groovy teeth suggest dinosaur was venomous

    Fossils show depression in upper jaw that held venom-producing glands.

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  13. Life

    Lupus not identical in twins

    Differences in DNA methylation may account for why one sibling gets the autoimmune disease while the other stays healthy.

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  14. Space

    Stay tuned: New star coming in 1 million years

    Radio observations of a dark, dusty cloud in a nearby star-forming region have revealed one of the earliest phases of star formation and may reveal new insights on starbirth.

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  15. Science Future for January 16, 2010

    February 4–5 Annual meeting of the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences occurs in Las Vegas. See aabss.org February 13–17 The American Physical Society and American Association of Physics Teachers meet in Washington, D.C. See www.aps.org March 17 Human origins exhibit premieres at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. See humanorigins.si.edu

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  16. Toward the Healthy City: People, Places, and the Politics of Urban Planning by Jason Corburn

    City planners could increase health equity by considering environmental and public health issues during urban redevelopment. MIT Press, 2009, 282 p., $24. TOWARD THE HEALTHY CITY: PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THE POLITICS OF URBAN PLANNING BY JASON CORBURN

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  17. Engineering Invention: Frank J. Sprague and the U.S. Electrical Industry by Frederick Dalzell

    The inventor and entrepreneur worked for Edison before coming up with the electric railway and electric elevator. MIT Press, 2009, 288 p., $30. ENGINEERING INVENTION: FRANK J. SPRAGUE AND THE U.S. ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY BY FREDERICK DALZELL

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  18. Life Along the Inner Coast by Robert L. Lippson and Alice Jane Lippson

    Southeast waterways host tremendous diversity, described in this field guide by two naturalists. University of North Carolina Press, 2009, 454 p., $35. LIFE ALONG THE INNER COAST BY ROBERT L. LIPPSON AND ALICE JANE LIPPSON

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  19. Jump into Science: Active Learning for Preschool Children by Rae Pica

    Science education starts early through experiments that keep kids moving. JUMP INTO SCIENCE: ACTIVE LEARNING FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN BY RAE PICA Gryphon House, 2009, 131 p., $14.95.

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  20. Book Review: Megadisasters: The Science of Predicting the Next Catastrophe by Florin Diacu

    To describe “the science of predicting,” Diacu ends up taking a comprehensive look back. The result is an excellent history of natural disasters and of the science behind understanding and mitigating those disasters. For a who’s who of volcanic eruptions, major earthquakes, big hurricanes, asteroid near-hits or historic pandemics, this book is the place to […]

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  21. Book Review: Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an E.R. Psychiatrist by Paul R. Linde

    What most people know about the psychiatric emergency room is that they don’t want to end up there. In Linde’s latest book, the veteran psychiatrist and writer draws on more than a decade of experience at San Francisco General Hospital’s psychiatric E.R. to show what life is really like behind the locked doors. A gripping, […]

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  22. Powering the national labs as engines of discovery

    In May 2009, University of Chicago physicist Eric D. Isaacs took the helm of the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. Earlier in his career, Isaacs spent 13 years at Bell Laboratories, where he directed semiconductor and materials physics research. Recently, Science News senior editor Janet Raloff spoke with Isaacs about ways to […]

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  23. On the Fringe

    Beyond Neptune lies a reservoir of rejects — icy debris left to roam the solar system’s dim outer limits having never coalesced into planets. But these frozen relics preserve a trove of clues about the earliest history and architecture of the solar system, astronomers are discovering. ON THE FRINGE Pluto and other icy bodies in […]

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  24. Evolution’s Bad Girl

    She’s the ultimate evolutionary party crasher. Dubbed Ardi, her partial skeleton was unearthed in Ethiopia near the scattered remains of at least 36 of her comrades. Physical anthropologists had known about the discovery of this long-gone gal for around 15 years, but few expected to see the 4.4-million-year-old hell-raiser that was unveiled in 11 scientific […]

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  25. The Ties That Bind

    When John Cacioppo walks around Chicago with his book Loneliness, he hides the cover. “Who wants to go around with a big L on their forehead?” he says. Society, he complains, treats loneliness as a disease. NETWORKS AT WORK Studies of human social networks go high-tech. Design: T. Dubé, Network image: Shutterstock “People think it’s […]

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  26. Letters

    Well-tooled apes The fascinating article “Aping the Stone Age” (SN: 11/21/09, p. 24) led me to wonder whether researchers who work with chimps or other higher apes have ever introduced them to the modern tools used by humans, such as saws, axes, hammers or pliers. If so, it would be interesting to know whether the […]

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  27. Science Past from the issue of January 16, 1960

    MEN TO MARS POSSIBLE IN 60’S, EXPERTS SAY — The United States will be able to send three men on a 14-month expedition to Mars in a nuclear-powered two-stage rocket ship during the 1960’s, three space experts assert. The rocket ship would go into orbit around Mars, and the exploring party would use a chemically […]

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  28. The Double Helix and the Law of Evidence by David H. Kaye

    A  legal scholar describes the history and future of DNA-based evidence in the  American justice system. Harvard University Press, 2010, 330 p., $45. THE DOUBLE HELIX AND THE LAW OF EVIDENCE BY DAVID H. KAYE

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