Vol. 172 No. #18
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More Stories from the November 3, 2007 issue

  1. Anthropology

    DNA to Neandertals: Lighten up

    DNA analysis indicates that some Neandertals may have had a gene for pale skin and red hair.

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  2. Materials Science

    Printing scheme could yield 3-D photonic crystals

    An innovative printing scheme makes three-dimensional crystal structures that could be used to control the flow of light.

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  3. Paleontology

    The first matrushka

    A newly found fossil preserves one creature inside another that lies nestled inside yet another, a Paleozoic version of the Russian nesting dolls known as matrushkas.

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  4. Paleontology

    Deinonychus’ claws were hookers, not rippers

    The meat-eating dinosaur Deinonychus probably used the large, sicklelike claw on its foot to grip and climb large prey, not disembowel it.

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  5. Paleontology

    Dinosaurs matured sexually while still growing

    Distinctive bone tissue in fossils of several dinosaur species suggests that the ancient reptiles became sexually mature long before they gained adult size.

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  6. Paleontology

    Meet the old wolves, same as the new wolves

    The dire wolf, an extinct species preserved in abundance at the La Brea tar pits, seems to have had a social structure similar to that of its modern-day relatives.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Early Arrival: HIV came from Haiti to United States

    New analysis of 25-year-old blood samples indicates that HIV reached the United States in about 1969, 12 years before AIDS was first formally described.

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  8. Animals

    Cousin Who? Gliding mammals may be primates’ nearest kin

    Two species of small, little-known rain forest mammals may be primates' closest living relatives.

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  9. Extreme Healing: Protein aids limb regrowth in newts

    The ability of newts to regenerate severed limbs depends crucially on a protein released by the insulating sheath around nerves.

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  10. Earth

    Clay That Kills: Ground yields antibacterial agents

    A special type of French clay smothers a diverse array of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains and a particularly nasty pathogen that causes skin ulcers.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Chilled Out? Ice could lurk beneath Martian equator

    An immense volume of ice-rich material may underlie a formation that extends about one-quarter of the way around Mars' equator.

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  12. Stimulant Inaction: ADHD drug’s mental lift proves surprisingly weak

    A widely used drug often calms children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder but does little to alleviate the condition's underlying mental deficits.

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  13. Physics

    Rock, paper, toxins

    A computer model simulates a kind of rock-paper-scissors competition among three species of virtual bacteria.

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  14. Health & Medicine

    Plugging Leaks: Manipulating receptors may impede sepsis

    Manipulation of signaling proteins on blood vessels may help combat sepsis, an often fatal condition.

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  15. Anthropology

    Fossil Sparks

    Two new fossil discoveries and an analysis of ancient teeth challenge traditional assumptions about ape and human evolution.

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  16. Astronomy

    Gammas from Heaven

    An orbiting gamma-ray observatory, set for launch next spring, will seek out the most violent events in the cosmos.

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  17. Humans

    Letters from the November 3, 2007, issue of Science News

    Waste not, want not “Cellulose Dreams” (SN: 8/25/07, p. 120) ignored important research by David Tilman and Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota. They found that planting a crop of 18 different native prairie plants grown in highly degraded and infertile soil with little fertilizer or chemicals yielded substantially more bioenergy than a single […]

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