Vol. 177 No. #10
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More Stories from the May 8, 2010 issue

  1. Life

    Insulin-producing cells can regenerate in diabetic mice

    Animal study finds that the pancreas can spontaneously regenerate beta cells.

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  2. Life

    Scientists name large but elusive lizard

    Though locals knew of it, the 2-meter cousin to Komodo dragons had escaped scientific description.

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  3. Life

    Eating seaweed may have conferred special digestive powers

    Gut microbes in Japanese people may have borrowed genes for breaking down nori from marine bacteria.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Lung function still impaired by dust from World Trade Center

    Firefighters and emergency medical teams continue to have breathing problems years after the 2001 terrorist attack.

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  5. Anthropology

    Partial skeletons may represent new hominid

    Partial skeletons may represent a new hominid species with implications for Homo origins, one researcher claims. But many of his peers disagree.

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  6. Life

    Fruit flies turn on autopilot

    High-speed video reveals the aerodynamics behind the insects’ maneuverability.

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  7. Space

    Newfound neighbor to solar system is a cool slacker

    Researchers have found the closest brown dwarf to Earth and the coolest yet seen, raising the possibility that the nearest starlike body to the solar system may be a brown dwarf rather than a star.

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  8. Life

    Briny deep basin may be home to animals thriving without oxygen

    Creatures living deep in the Mediterranean without oxygen would be a remarkable first, biologists say.

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  9. Physics

    Colliding dust grains charge each other up

    Physicists propose a way that cloud particles can electrify themselves.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Mapping the fruit fly brain

    A new digital atlas could reveal how 100,000 neurons work together.

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  11. Space

    Backward planets may have flipped into place

    Reversed orbits among ‘hot Jupiters’ decreases chance of Earthlike neighbors.

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  12. Materials Science

    Physicists untangle the geometry of rope

    Equations explain why winding fibers together does the job, no matter what they’re made of.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    Embryo transfer technique could prevent maternally inherited diseases

    A new technique transplants healthy nuclear DNA of cells carrying mutated mitochondria.

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  14. Space

    Famous Martian meteorite younger than thought

    The famous fragment of Mars, once proposed to hold signs of extraterrestrial life, is still pretty old. But the rock appears to have formed about 400 million years later than earlier analyses indicated.

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  15. Space

    Not your grandfather’s space program

    President Obama offers a new plan that would send humans to orbit Mars during the mid-2030s.

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  16. Anthropology

    For ancient hominids, thumbs up on precision grip

    An analysis of a 6-million-year-old bone indicates that a humanlike grasp evolved among some of the earliest hominids.

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  17. Anthropology

    Hobbit debate goes out on some limbs

    A new analysis of fossil hobbits’ limb bones links them to much earlier hominids, and immediately attracts criticism.

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  18. Anthropology

    Lice hang ancient date on first clothes

    Genetic analysis puts garment origin at 190,000 years ago.

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  19. Science Past from the issue of May 7, 1960

    WHISTLING SWANS DYED TO STUDY MIGRATION ROUTE —  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been dyeing whistling swans vivid colors to learn more about their migratory movements. With their wings, tails or other body parts colored blue, yellow, green or red, the swans are easier to observe both when flying and resting on the ground. […]

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  20. Physics

    Laser pioneer reflects on making Einstein’s idea real

    Science News reporter Ron Cowen's Q&A with Nobel laureate and laser-technology pioneer Charles Townes.

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  21. Physics

    Inventing the Light Fantastic

    The history of the laser: An idea that began with Albert Einstein inspired a race to create a special beam of light that has since infiltrated numerous aspects of everyday life.

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  22. Physics

    Lasing Beyond Light

    Laser physicists have set their sights on new types of waves — manufacturing beams of sound, creating plasma swells and looking for ripples in spacetime.

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  23. Physics

    Celebrating the laser

    An introduction to the special section on lasers.

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  24. Feedback

    Letters for May 8, 2010.

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  25. Science Future for May 8, 2010

    May 12 Students can visit scientists or conduct their own experiments to celebrate National Lab Day. Find local events at www.nationallabday.org May 27 – 30 The Association for Psychological Science hosts its annual meeting in Boston. See www.psychologicalscience.org June 4 – 8 The American Society of Clinical Oncology meets in Chicago. See www.asco.org

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