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June 21st, 2008
issue

  • Asteroid or comet blamed for Siberian blast of 1908
  • Deep-sea sediments provide a habitat for diverse and abundant populations of microorganisms and may be home to as much as 70 percent of the bacteria on the planet, new studies suggest.
  • New studies revise the structure of the Milky Way, exchanging the old map of a four-armed spiral galaxy for a two-arm version. The makeover also includes the discovery of a smaller, short, gaseous arm that is a long-sought counterpart to a similar arm near the galaxy’s center.
  • Astronomers have discovered the smallest planet known that is beyond the solar system and orbits an ordinary parent body.
  • Using a new method of data analysis, researchers have found that the Americas were peopled in two different migrations.
  • Some types of the largest flying reptiles ever known were well adapted to life on the ground.
  • These 'atoms' can't leap tall buildings in a single bound, but they have special powers
  • Scientists search the whole genome for clues to common diseases
  • To the brain, remembering the past and visualizing the future look surprisingly similar
  • High levels of lead in the blood during childhood are associated with smaller brains and with an increased risk for violent criminal behavior, report two new studies.
  • Cigarette smokers who know one another tend to kick the habit all at once, highlighting the importance of social forces in smoking-cessation treatment.
  • Scientists find that two rock crystal skulls often attributed to pre-Columbian societies are really modern phonies.
  • The first close-up color images of the northern arctic circle on the Red Planet were recorded by the Mars Phoenix Lander spacecraft only a few hours after its flawless descent at 7:38 p.m. EDT, May 25. The detailed images suggest ice lies beneath the hard soil.
  • In a step toward someday making brain-controlled prosthetic arms for people, scientists have trained monkeys to control a robotic arm with their thoughts. Click on the image to read the story and see the video.
  • New data suggest that childhood obesity in the United States may have leveled off between 1999 and 2006.
  • Hanging out with young, healthy flies helps fruit flies with a mutation that causes neurodegeneration live longer.
  • Researchers say that Stonehenge functioned as the largest cemetery of its time.
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Undeclared
Comment By Guest Columnists Oct 10th 2008
Julie Rehmeyer
Math Trek By Julie Rehmeyer
The U.S. News & World Report rankings of colleges and universities are largely arbitrary, according to a new mathematical analysis. Oct 3rd 2008
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Natural History of the Point Reyes Peninsula by Jules G. Evens
Univ. of California, 2008, 366 p., $24.95
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