Vol. 183 No. #13
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More Stories from the June 29, 2013 issue

  1. Space

    Moon’s water may have earthly origins

    Ratio of hydrogen to deuterium suggests molecule on both orbs has a common source.

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  2. Life

    Exploration forges differences in identical twins

    Mice with the same genes and surroundings diverged in brain development depending on how much they moved around their environment.

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  3. Physics

    Low-energy laser makes leap toward practicality

    Researchers have created a polariton device that runs on electricity.

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  4. Life

    Invasive frogs may spread deadly amphibian fungus

    African clawed frogs imported for 20th century pregnancy tests apparently communicate B. dendrobatidis to native species.

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  5. Life

    Analog circuits boost power in living computers

    New cell-based computers do division and logarithms more like a slide rule than a laptop.

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  6. Life

    Foot fungi a thriving, diverse community

    A skin census finds that toes and heels have the most fungal types.

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  7. Psychology

    Less is more for smart perception

    Neural efficiency reigns in brains of high-IQ individuals as they view their surroundings, a new study indicates.

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  8. Animals

    How roaches developed disgust at first bite

    A change in taste cells makes glucose-baited traps repellent.

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  9. Life

    Response to bacterial infection depends on time of day

    Mice that got Salmonella in the evening fared better than those given the microbe in the morning.

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  10. Paleontology

    Fossil muddies the origin of birds

    New specimen may be a feathered dinosaur — or the earliest avian yet discovered

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Underactive thyroid ups pregnancy risks

    Several complications are more common in women with the condition, including gestational diabetes and cesarean births.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Mars trip would deliver big radiation dose

    Curiosity instrument confirms expectation of major exposures.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    Easy steps limit antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals

    Intensive care units that bathe patients and take other precautions have fewer cases of staph, a study finds.

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  14. Life

    Genes weakly linked to education level

    A search of more than 2 million DNA locations in more than 125,000 people finds a weak, and perhaps dubious, association with schooling.

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  15. Humans

    Couples who meet online have fine marriages

    Relationship satisfaction for Internet daters is similar to that of people who find potential partners in more traditional ways.

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  16. Archaeology

    Italians taught French wine-making

    Archaeology suggests Etruscans brought the grape to Gaul.

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  17. Humans

    Dietary changes accompanied human evolution

    Hominids moved toward eating grasses and away from tree leaves, according to chemical analyses of fossil tooth enamel.

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  18. Health & Medicine

    Flu spreads via airborne droplets

    Hand washing goes only so far in retarding flu transmission.

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  19. Animals

    Frog long thought extinct rediscovered in Israel

    Hula painted frog turns out to be the only surviving member of an extinct genus.

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  20. Paleontology

    Fossil sheds light on early primates

    Partial skeleton near root of monkey, ape and human line.

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  21. Quantum Physics

    Light breaks up to cloak gaps in time

    Method could hide messages without sender’s knowledge.

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  22. Neuroscience

    Research prods brain wiring underlying compulsive behavior

    Complementary studies, focusing on repetitive grooming in mice, offer potential for new treatment strategies in humans.

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  23. Health & Medicine

    DSM-5 enters the diagnostic fray

    Fifth edition of the widely used psychiatric manual focuses attention on how mental disorders should be defined.

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  24. Science & Society

    Tim Samaras, 1957–2013

    Tim Samaras spent the past twenty years chasing tornados. He was killed in a storm in May.

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  25. Chemistry

    A Tale of Seven Elements

    Eric Scerri's book tells the story of filling in the periodic table of the elements.

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  26. Genetics

    Chromothripsis

    Chromothripsis is the catastrophic shattering of a chromosome.

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  27. Planetary Science

    Mystery Meteorite

    The case for (and against) a rock from Mercury.

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  28. Physics

    Hard times for theorists in a post-Higgs world

    The Large Hadron Collider’s big success leaves no clear avenue for new physics.

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  29. Animals

    In the Eye of the Tiger

    Global spread of Asian tiger mosquito could fuel outbreaks of tropical disease in temperate regions.

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  30. Letters to the editor

    Invertebrate enigmas I found the recent article “Evolutionary enigmas” (SN: 5/18/13, p. 20) fascinating because I know of another example of an invertebrate animal possessing a “strictly vertebrate” quality. As a high school human anatomy and physiology teacher, I sometimes have my students test the effects of the constituents in cigarette smoke on live Daphnia […]

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  31. Health & Medicine

    Balloon Clears Arteries

    Excerpt from the June 29, 1963, issue of Science News Letter.

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  32. Math

    Math on Trial

    How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom by Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez.

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