Science News Magazine:
Vol. 178 No. #6 Archives
More Stories from the September 11, 2010 issue
- Chemistry
Superconductors go fractal
Oxygen atoms arrange themselves in a self-similar pattern to help conduct electricity without resistance.
- Archaeology
Lucy’s kind used stone tools to butcher animals
Animal bones found in East Africa show the oldest signs of stone-tool use and meat eating by hominids.
By Bruce Bower - Tech
The people’s pulsar
Thousands of volunteers help discover a neutron star by donating the processing power in their idle home computers.
- Space
Twinkle, twinkle, little dot
A faint object was once thought to be the first extrasolar planet to be photographed. Then it wasn’t. But now it may go down in the history books after all.
By Ron Cowen -
- Astronomy
Celestial wish list
A panel of astronomers ranks proposed astrophysics projects for the coming decade.
By Ron Cowen - Humans
Depressed teens not shunned
In high school, students with depression seek — rather than settle for — friends with similar moods.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Retirement at 62 boosts well-being
People who retire on the early side tend to feel better physically and emotionally than those who quit working earlier or later.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Muscles remember past glory
Extra nuclei produced by training survive disuse, making it easier to rebuild lost strength.
- Humans
Most prisoners come from few neighborhoods
As overall crime rates declined in the United States, certain poor communities fueled a dramatic rise in incarceration rates.
By Bruce Bower - Earth
Perforated blobs may be early sponges
Odd shapes in Australian rocks could be the oldest fossil evidence of multicellular animals.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Teen hearing loss rate worsens
The percentage of adolescents with some decline has increased since the 1990s, a study shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Life
Gene profiles may predict TB prognosis
A molecular profile may help doctors predict who will get sick from TB infections.
- Plants
Chlorophyll gets an ‘f’
New variety of photosynthetic pigment is the first to be discovered in 60 years
- Space
Moon shrinks
New pictures expand evidence of the moon’s shrinkage over the past billion years.
- Life
‘Whispering’ gives bats the drop on prey
A stealth approach to echolocation appears to be adaptive for catching eared moths.
By Susan Milius - Chemistry
Deep-sea oil plume goes missing
Controversy arises over whether bacteria have completely gobbled oil up.
By Janet Raloff -
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DNA on the move
The latest advances from the field of DNA nanotechnology include nanobot ‘spiders’ learning how to walk and even do some work.
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