Vol. 190 No. 6
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More Stories from the September 17, 2016 issue

  1. Animals

    Betty the crow may not have invented her hook-bending tool trick

    Textbook example of Betty the crow’s proposed insight into toolmaking is now called into question by observations of similar hook bending by wild New Caledonian birds.

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  2. Plants

    Sneaky virus helps plants multiply, creating more hosts

    Plant virus makes hosts more attractive to pollinators, ensuring future virus-susceptible plants.

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  3. Neuroscience

    Sleep deprivation hits some brain areas hard

    Brain scan study reveals hodgepodge effects of sleep deprivation.

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  4. Animals

    Study ranks Greenland shark as longest-lived vertebrate

    Radiocarbon in eye lenses suggests mysterious Greenland sharks might live for almost 400 years.

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  5. Astronomy

    Tabby’s star drama continues

    Tabby’s star, already known for its bizarre flicking and fading, dimmed throughout the four years of Kepler’s primary mission.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    When it comes to antimicrobial resistance, watch out for wildlife

    Focusing on antimicrobial resistance in hospitals and farms misses a big and not well understood part of the issue: wildlife.

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  7. Genetics

    Genetic diversity data offers medical benefits

    Study of protein-producing DNA narrows down disease-causing genetic variants.

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  8. Earth

    Americas’ hookup not so ancient after all

    Debate lingers over when the Isthmus of Panama formed and closed the seaway that separated North and South America millions of years ago.

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  9. Archaeology

    How to get Ötzi’s look

    DNA from Ötzi the Iceman’s clothes and quiver traced to both domesticated and wild animals.

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  10. Quantum Physics

    Experiment confirms plan for quantum-coded messages

    A new way to send secret quantum messages uses shorter keys.

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  11. Animals

    Bird nest riddle: Which shape came first?

    Today’s simple cup-shaped songbird nests look as if they just had to have evolved before roofed nests. But that could be backward.

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  12. Animals

    Ways to beat heat have hidden costs for birds

    Birds that look as if they’re coping with heat waves and climate change may actually be on a downward slide, with underappreciated disadvantages of panting and seeking shade.

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  13. Astronomy

    Signs of planet detected around sun’s nearest neighbor star

    A planet roughly the size of Earth orbits within the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the sun.

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  14. Animals

    Warm-up benefit could explain morning birdsong

    Even birds sing better after vocal warm-up, and an evolutionary arms race among rivals might have led to the intensity of the dawn chorus.

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  15. Anthropology

    Fossil autopsy claims Lucy fell from tree

    A contested study suggests a famous fossil ancestor plunged to her death.

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  16. Genetics

    Genetic surgery is closer to reality

    A molecular scalpel called CRISPR/Cas9 has made gene editing possible.

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  17. Astronomy

    Black hole app lets you blow up stars

    NOVA’s Black Hole app for iPad is an addictive game that teaches lessons about gravity and astronomy while letting you hurl stars at one another.

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  18. Animals

    Dwarf lemurs don’t agree on sleep

    Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs’ surprising hibernation-sleep doesn’t show up in ground-hibernating relatives.

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  19. Life

    California’s goby is actually two different fish

    One fish, two fish: California’s tidewater goby is two species.

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