Vol. 181 No. #2
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More Stories from the January 28, 2012 issue

  1. Humans

    Fewer fires in Africa these days

    How flames spread, not how frequently people start them, controls burning on the continent.

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  2. Astronomy

    Toasty planets circle stellar heart

    Roasted remains orbit former red giant.

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  3. Life

    Drugs activate dormant gene

    A compound that blocks DNA unwinding can spur production of a critical brain protein in mice, leading to hope for a therapy for Angelman syndrome.

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  4. Humans

    Network analysis predicts drug side effects

    A computer technique can foresee adverse events before medications are widely prescribed.

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  5. Life

    Pigeons rival primates in number task

    Trained on one-two-three, the birds can apply the rule of numerical order to such lofty figures as five and nine.

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  6. Paleontology

    Early animals dethroned

    Cell division patterns in controversial Chinese fossils place them outside the animal kingdom.

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  7. Life

    Staggered lessons may work better

    Training at irregular intervals improves learning in sea snails.

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  8. Animals

    Deep-sea glow serves as bait

    Marine bacteria light up to get a ride elsewhere.

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  9. Chemistry

    Molecule ties itself in a complex knot

    Chemists synthesize a five-crossing structure centered on chloride.

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  10. Life

    Sun-oil mix deadly for young herring

    Fish embryos proved surprisingly vulnerable to a 2007 spill in San Francisco Bay.

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  11. Physics

    Neutrino parents call into question faster-than-light results

    The particles’ precursor doesn’t have enough energy to produce the speeds reported.

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  12. Life

    Three monkeys a genetic mishmash

    Feat suggests embryonic stem cells are less flexible in primates than mice.

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  13. Life

    Crabs hither, shrimp thither

    Biologists document surprising differences among deep-sea animals at hydrothermal vent fields.

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  14. Science Past for January 27, 1962

    “SPACE WHISKERS” GROWN FOR NEW SPACE MATERIALS — Microscopically small “space whiskers” are being grown by scientists at Rocketdyne, a division of North American Aviation, Inc., Canoga Park, Calif., in search of methods of producing extremely strong new space materials. The fine filament-like crystals are being grown from many materials — lead, tin, copper, graphite, […]

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  15. Science Future for January 28, 2012

    February 9 Learn about the science of wine and even stomp some grapes with your bare feet at the Durham, N.C., Museum of Life + Science. See bit.ly/syIeOC February 13 Enjoy an after-hours tour highlighting displays of love in exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Learn more at bit.ly/zRko4O

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  16. SN Online

    SCIENCE & SOCIETYPlants, algae and fungi can now be named online and in English. Read “Botanists et al freed from Latin, paper.” Thomas Libby, Evan Chang-Siu, Pauline Jennings, Courtesy of PolyPEDAL Lab & CiBER/UC Berkeley LIFE Videos and robots show how reptiles use their tails to balance in midair. See “Measuring the leap of a […]

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  17. You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself by David McRaney

    Forty-six of the brain’s everyday fallacies and cognitive biases are highlighted in an expansion of the author’s blog about the neuro­science of self-delusion. Gotham Books, 2011, 300 p., $22.50

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  18. Mushroom by Nicholas P. Money

    Mushroom lore and history mingle with science and medicine in a biologist’s exploration of the fungal kingdom. Oxford, 2011, 201 p., $24.95

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  19. Part Wild: One Woman’s Journey with a Creature Caught Between the Worlds of Wolves and Dogs by Ceiridwen Terrill

    The cultural history and genetic story of dog domestication is told through the adventures of a wolf-husky hybrid adopted by a science writer. Simon & Schuster, 2011, 274 p., $25

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  20. 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True by Guy P. Harrison

    A journalist turns a skeptical eye on beliefs ranging from astrology to Atlantis, showing that scientific discovery can be just as fascinating as myth. Prometheus, 2011, 458 p., $18

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  21. BOOK REVIEW: Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga

    Review by Laura Sanders.

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  22. BOOK REVIEW: My Beautiful Genome: Exposing Our Genetic Future, One Quirk at a Time by Lone Frank

    Review by Tina Hesman Saey.

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  23. Climate

    Soil’s Hidden Secrets

    Shocking discoveries from the underground may shake up climate science.

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  24. The Digital Camera Revolution

    Instead of imitating film counterparts, new technologies work with light in creative ways.

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  25. Head Agony

    Jumpy cells may underlie migraine’s sensory storm.

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  26. Letters

    The eyes have it Just finished the latest issue of your spectacular magazine. I’ve been a reader for many years, but this is the first time I’ve felt compelled to write in. In the article about the tadpole (“Tiny voltage grows eyes in strange places,” SN: 12/31/11, p. 5), the final sentence is a quote […]

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  27. Pharmacologist drinks heavy water in experiment

    Self-experimenter drank heavy water, then lived a long life.

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  28. Auroras by Dan Bortolotti

    Striking images illuminate this exploration of one of nature’s greatest light shows. Firefly, 2011, 143 p., $29.95

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