Vol. 190 No. 10
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More Stories from the November 12, 2016 issue

  1. Anthropology

    Big Viking families nurtured murder

    Vikings in Iceland got a murderous boost from having large extended families.

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  2. Earth

    Seismologists surprised by deep California quakes

    Small earthquakes detected along the Newport-Inglewood Fault originate from deeper underground than once thought possible.

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  3. Psychology

    Chimps, other apes take mind reading to humanlike level

    In a first, apes show that they understand when others hold false beliefs.

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  4. Materials Science

    Superflexible, 3-D printed “bones” trigger new growth

    New ultraflexible material could be the future of bone repair, but awaits human testing.

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  5. Paleontology

    Birds’ honks filled Late Cretaceous air

    Oldest avian voice box fossil yet discovered belonged to a ducklike bird that lived during the age of the dinosaurs.

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  6. Life

    One-celled life possessed tools for going multicellular

    Unicellular ancestors of animals had molecular tools used by multicellular life.

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  7. Astronomy

    Cosmic census of galaxies updated to 2 trillion

    A new census of the cosmos suggests that there might be 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe, about 10 times as many as previous estimates.

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  8. Life

    Placenta protectors no match for toxic Strep B pigment

    Strep B uses a toxic pigment made of fat to kill immune system cells, spurring preterm labor and dangerous infections, a monkey study shows.

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  9. Animals

    Be careful what you say around jumping spiders

    Sensitive leg hairs may let jumping spiders hear sounds through the air at much greater distances than researchers imagined.

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  10. Life

    In a first, mouse eggs grown from skin cells

    Stem cells grown in ovary-mimicking conditions in a lab dish can make healthy mouse offspring, but technique still needs work.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Comet 67P cracking under pressure

    Cracks developing on comet 67P are signs of stress building in the neck of the comet that could lead to its two ends snapping apart.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Lava may be flowing from Venus volcano

    Lava flows might explain a hot spot seen in data from Venus Express spacecraft.

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  13. Planetary Science

    Possibly cloudy forecast for parts of Pluto

    Reflective patches on Pluto could be hints of rare cloud formation on the dwarf planet.

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  14. Genetics

    Zika disrupts cellular processes to impair brain development

    Discoveries about how Zika virus slows brain cell development could lead to treatments.

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  15. Planetary Science

    Experts don’t agree on age of Saturn’s rings

    Saturn’s rings could be almost as old as the solar system, and the Cassini craft is poised to help find out.

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  16. Planetary Science

    First peek under clouds reveals Jupiter’s surprising depths

    Jupiter’s colorful bands originate several hundred kilometers beneath the cloud tops, the Juno spacecraft reveals.

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  17. Genetics

    DNA data offer evidence of unknown extinct human relative

    Melanesians may carry genetic evidence of a previously unknown extinct human relative.

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  18. Particle Physics

    Latest dark matter searches leave scientists empty-handed

    As the most popular candidates for dark matter fail to show up in detectors, scientists are broadening the search.

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  19. Quantum Physics

    ‘Time crystal’ created in lab

    A chain of ions creates a crystal that repeats in time instead of in space.

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  20. Computing

    AI system learns like a human, stores info like a computer

    A new artificial neural network hooked up to extra memory can learn to solve complex problems.

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  21. Planetary Science

    Saturn’s moon Dione might harbor an underground ocean

    Saturn’s moon Dione might have an underground ocean, like several other moons in the solar system.

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  22. Animals

    African elephants walk on their tippy-toes

    Pressure plates reveal how African elephants load their feet when they walk, providing clues to pachyderm podiatry problems.

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  23. Animals

    Hot and spicy pain signals get blocked in naked mole-rats

    Naked mole-rats have a protein that interrupts pain signal.

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  24. Health & Medicine

    50 years later, vaccines have eliminated some diseases

    Vaccines have come a long way in 50 years.

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  25. Health & Medicine

    Riding roller coasters might help dislodge kidney stones

    Researchers took a 3-D printed kidney containing tiny stones and urine for a spin on a roller coaster and found their patients’ stories of kidney stones passing on the ride to have merit.

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  26. Earth

    The southern San Andreas has a smaller, neighboring fault to its west

    The newly-discovered Salton Trough Fault runs parallel to the southern San Andreas Fault in California, potentially affecting the region’s earthquake risk.

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