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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Tech

    Poor initial Gulf spill numbers did ‘not impact’ response

    In the early weeks after the catastrophic blowout of the deep-water well in the Gulf of Mexico this spring, BP — the well’s owner — provided the government dramatically low estimates of the flow rate of oil and gas into the sea. Did telling Uncle Sam and the public that the flow rate was 1,000 barrels per day and later 5,000 barrels per day — when the actual rate was closer to 50,000 to 65,000 barrels per day — affect the spill’s management?

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  2. Tech

    Tiny tools aren’t toys

    Enzyme-based machinery could have medical applications.

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  3. Math

    Potato chips: A symptom of the U.S. R&D problem

    Last year, U.S. consumers spent $7.1 billion on potato chips — $2 billion more than the federal government’s total 2009 investment on research and development. There’s something wrong, here, when Americans are more willing to empty their wallets for the junk food that will swell their waistlines than for investments in the engine driving the creation of jobs, economic growth and national security.

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  4. Tech

    Everything really is relative

    Two tabletop experiments demonstrate the time-warping principle at the human scale.

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  5. Earth

    Gulf spill may have been somewhat bigger than feds, BP estimated

    Researchers estimate the oil output using a new technique developed for measuring the output of marine hydrothermal vents.

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  6. Tech

    A compass that lights the way

    Researchers develop a highly sensitive optical instrument for measuring magnetic fields.

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  7. Tech

    To tame traffic, go with the flow

    Lights should respond to cars, a study concludes, not the other way around.

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  8. Computing

    Most influential media Twitter feeds

    Computer scientists find surprises when they rank top 100.

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  9. Chemistry

    Light-harvesting complexes do it themselves

    A new technique could yield solar cells with no repair or assembly required.

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  10. Tech

    Tar sands ‘fingerprint’ seen in rivers and snow

    A new study refutes a government claim (one echoed by industry) that the gonzo-scale extraction of tar sands in western Canada — and their processing into crude oil — does not substantially pollute the environment.

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  11. Tech

    New help for greasy works of art

    NMR technique identifies oil stains, guiding art conservation efforts.

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  12. Chemistry

    Deep-sea oil plume goes missing

    Controversy arises over whether bacteria have completely gobbled oil up.

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