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More Stories from the November 2, 2024 issue

  1. Neuroscience

    Semaglutide saps mice’s motivation to run

    Mice given semaglutide, the key ingredient in drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, lost weight, but they also voluntarily ran less on a wheel.

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  2. Astronomy

    Betelgeuse has a tiny companion star hidden in plain sight

    Betelgeuse has a sequel — in the form of a companion star that's about the same mass as the sun, orbiting it about once every 2,100 days.

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  3. Animals

    These sea creatures can fuse their bodies

    A species of comb jelly can fuse its body with another jelly after injury. Some of the pair’s body functions then synchronize.

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  4. Physics

    X-rays from nuclear blasts could defend Earth from asteroids

    The X-ray pulses could deflect asteroids up to 4 kilometers wide, a new study suggests.

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  5. Neuroscience

    Hair pulling prompts one of the fastest known pain signals

    The ouch of hair pulling is transmitted with the help of a protein used to sense light touches. These details could lead to new treatments.

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  6. Physics

    Radioactive beams give a real-time view of cancer treatment in mice

    This first successful treatment of tumors with radioactive ion beams could one day lead to treating human patients’ tumors with millimeter precision.

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  7. Climate

    A thousands-year-old log demonstrates how burying wood can fight climate change

    Burying wood can store carbon for thousands of years, according to an analysis of an ancient log unearthed in Canada.

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  8. Animals

    Bird nests made with a toxic fungus seem to fend off attacking ants

    Two species of birds in Costa Rica build nests in trees defended by ants. Ants that encounter the horsehair fungus in the nests develop odd behaviors.

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  9. Archaeology

    Ancient Scythians had cultural roots in Siberia

    A possible sacrificial ritual from around 2,800 years ago suggests mounted herders from Siberia shaped a Eurasian culture thousands of kilometers away.

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  10. Physics

    Thunderstorms churn up a ‘boiling pot’ of gamma rays 

    A thunderstorm seen in gamma-ray vision is a complex, frenetic lightshow when viewed from above the clouds.

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  11. Animals

    This fish has legs — and it uses them for more than just walking

    Some sea robins have taste buds on their six crablike legs that help the fish ferret out prey buried in sand as they walk.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    A hurricane’s aftermath may spur up to 11,000 deaths

    Hurricanes like Helene may indirectly cause deaths for years. Stress, pollution and a loss of infrastructure could all contribute to tropical cyclone fatalities.

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  13. Health & Medicine

    Blood pressure may read falsely high if the arm isn’t positioned properly

    A clinical trial found blood pressure readings were higher with the arm on the lap or along the side, compared with supported at heart height.

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  14. Astronomy

    Barnard’s star has at least one planet orbiting it after all

    After decades of searching, a telltale gravitational wobble points to an exoplanet orbiting the nearby red dwarf every 3.15 days.

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  15. Health & Medicine

    An mRNA vaccine protected mice against deadly intestinal C. difficile bacteria

    An mRNA vaccine that targets several aspects of C. difficile’s ability to cause severe disease prevented major symptoms and death in mice.

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  16. Animals

    Some tadpoles don’t poop for weeks. That keeps their pools clean

    Eiffinger’s tree frog babies store their solid waste in an intestinal pouch, releasing less ammonia into their watery cribs than other frog species.

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  17. Genetics

    The discovery of microRNA wins the 2024 physiology Nobel Prize

    Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun found a new principle of gene regulation essential for all multicellular organisms.

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  18. Artificial Intelligence

    The discovery of tools key to machine learning wins the 2024 physics Nobel

    John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton used tools from physics to develop data analysis methods that underlie machine learning.

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  19. Chemistry

    Work on protein structure and design wins the 2024 chemistry Nobel

    David Baker figured out how to build entirely new proteins. Demis Hassabis and John Jumper developed an AI tool to predict protein structures.

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  20. Planetary Science

    50 years ago, scientists found a new moon orbiting Jupiter

    In 1974, astronomers discovered Jupiter’s 13th moon. They now know of at least 95 moons and have launched missions to study some up close.

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