Science News Magazine:
Vol. 173 No. #12Trustworthy journalism comes at a price.
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More Stories from the March 22, 2008 issue
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Alzheimer’s mystery protein unmasked
A protein linked to Alzheimer's disease may help young people forget, too.
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New drugs tackle difficult nematodes
Researchers have discovered what could be a new class of drugs for treating animals afflicted with nematodes.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Moths’ memories
Sphinx moths appear to remember experiences they had as caterpillars, suggesting some brain cells remain intact through metamorphosis.
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Materials Science
A sticky issue
Peeling off adhesive tape can be frustrating, and now researchers know why.
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People move like predators
Cell phone data shows that people's daily roaming follows statistical patterns also seen in predators.
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Health & Medicine
Bad Blood? Old units might be substandard
Heart patients who get transfusions of donated blood that's kept more than 14 days fare worse than patients who get fresher blood.
By Nathan Seppa -
Animals
Love Code: A twist of light only mantis shrimp can see
Alone in the animal kingdom, these crustaceans signal their presence to potential mates with circularly polarized light.
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Animals
Finch Concerts: Female bird brain notes male attention
Male zebra finches sing slightly differently when serenading a female as opposed to twittering to themselves, and females react to those differences.
By Susan Milius -
Health & Medicine
Long-life Link: Gut protein ties low insulin to longevity
A new link between insulin and aging adds to scientists' understanding of longevity and points to possible targets for life-extending therapies.
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Astronomy
In the Beginning: More early clues for life at home, out there
Astronomers move closer to understanding how life arose on Earth and how it could arise elsewhere.
By Ron Cowen -
Earth
New Recipe for Pollution Stew: Another chemical culprit adds to ozone
A reactive chemical in urban air cleans up some pollutants but could introduce another.
By Sid Perkins -
Plants
Floral Shocker: Blooms shake roots of flowering-plant family
A tiny aquatic plant, once thought to be related to grasses, raises new questions about the evolution of the earliest flowering plants.
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Road to Eureka!
Researchers are beginning to identify neural components of insightful problem solving, though no scientific consensus exists on how the brain mediates "light-bulb" or "Aha!" moments.
By Bruce Bower -
Astronomy
From Dark Matter to Light
Recent surveys of the shapes, colors, and masses of galaxies have put a new focus on the nitty-gritty of galaxy formation—the complicated physics of the interaction of gas.
By Ron Cowen -
Humans
Letters from the March 22, 2008, issue of Science News
The price of water In reference to the article “Going Down: Climate change, water use threaten Lake Mead” (SN: 2/23/08, p. 115), scarcity requires society to allocate. Usually markets do a better job than law at allocating efficiently and fairly. Lake Mead could remain full to the brim regardless of pending climate change. The quoted […]
By Science News