Vol. 168 No. #10
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More Stories from the September 3, 2005 issue

  1. Astronomy

    Hidden black holes

    A new study has added to existing evidence that most of the monster black holes at the cores of galaxies are shrouded by dust.

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  2. Placebo reins in pain in brain

    Pain relief provided by inert medications may reflect increased transmission of a brain chemical involved in regulating stress and suppressing pain.

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  3. People with malaria attract more mosquitoes

    The protozoan causing malaria may facilitate its own spread by making people more alluring to mosquitoes.

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  4. Earth

    Can polluted air cause birth defects?

    For the second time, scientists have found evidence suggesting that prenatal exposure to air pollution may cause certain birth defects.

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  5. Chimps ape others to learn tool use

    Chimpanzees appear to develop traditions of tool use by copying one another's behavior and conforming to a successful approach.

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  6. Humans

    Movies put smoking in a bad light

    Smokers in American films are more likely to be villains than heroes, a review of movies from the 1990s shows.

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  7. Anthropology

    Chimps to People: Apes show contrasts in genetic makeup

    The first comparison of the chimpanzee genome to that of people has revealed new DNA disparities between ourselves and the primate species most closely related to us.

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  8. Olives Alive: Extra-virgin oil has anti-inflammatory properties

    A molecule isolated from extra-virgin olive oil has anti-inflammatory properties similar to those of ibuprofen.

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  9. Astronomy

    Recipe for a Heavyweight: Making a massive star

    New findings strongly support the notion that at least some massive stars form much as their lighter-weight siblings do, by packing on material from a surrounding disk of gas and dust.

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  10. Materials Science

    Fog Be Gone: Nanocoating clarifies the view

    Scientists have created a nanocoating that prevents fogging and reflection on glass surfaces.

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  11. Chemistry

    Class Acts from New Pesticides: Chemicals have little effect on mammals

    Two new classes of selective pesticides immobilize and eventually kill many crop-damaging insects by interfering with a cell receptor unique to those pests.

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  12. Tech

    Wings warp for birdlike agility

    An easily maneuverable, bird-size airplane whose wings can change shape in flight may be able to carry out a variety of assignments in tight spots.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    A New Role for Statin Drugs? Cholesterol fighters may reduce deaths soon after heart attacks

    Statin drugs given within 24 hours of a heart attack improve a patient's chance of surviving.

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  14. Animals

    Bumblebee 007: Bees can spy on others’ flower choices

    Bumblebees that watched their neighbors feast on unusual flowers often later checked out the same kinds of blossoms themselves, a behavior that amounts to social learning.

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  15. Rice, revealed

    Researchers have finished a 6-year-long effort to sequence the genome of rice.

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  16. Math

    Armor-Plated Puzzle

    Behind the beautiful patterns of many viral shells lie principles of pure physics and mathematics that scientists have illuminated in recent theoretical studies.

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  17. Food Fix

    Scientists have discovered a number of neurological connections between drug addiction and obesity.

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  18. Humans

    Letters from the September 3, 2005, issue of Science News

    Pick of the crop “Honey, We Shrank the Snow Lotus: Picking big plants reduces species’ height” (SN: 7/9/05, p. 20) suggests that the change is an evolutionary process. However, this and the other examples given are all more selective breeding than natural selection. In this case, organisms with undesirable characteristics (smaller size) are overrepresented during […]

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