Feature
- Math
Knotty Calculations
An alternative approach to quantum computing takes advantage of space-time knots and braids.
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Mining the Mouse
Recent analyses of the mouse genome illuminate human health and evolution.
- Earth
Proof of Burden
Two teams of scientists report that the blood and urine of most Americans contain toxic cocktails of metals, artificial hormones, and chemical ingredients of plastics, flame retardants, pesticides, herbicides, and disinfectants.
- Tech
NanoLights! Camera! Action!
Fluorescent particles of semiconductors are giving biologists a new view of cells and proteins.
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How the Butterfly Gets Its Spots
The spots on a butterfly wing turn out to be unusually good model systems for a range of disciplines from genetics to behavioral ecology, offering biologists a chance to paint the really big picture of how evolution works.
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- Health & Medicine
Dietary Dilemmas
Low-carbohydrate diets, such as the Atkins diet, could be more effective for weight loss than low-fat diets are.
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Essence of g
New efforts to probe the biology of intelligence stir up a long-running controversy over what mental tests actually measure.
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Genghis Khan’s Legacy?
Genghis Kahn's military success 800 years ago may have spread a particular form of the Y chromosome, one he may have himself carried.
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- Earth
Electronic Jetsam
Oceanographers are developing and deploying a variety of seafaring probes—including drifters, gliders, and scientific torpedoes—that will enable them to explore and monitor the ocean remotely.
- Earth
Why the Mercury Falls
Certain pollutants can foster the localized fallout of mercury, a toxic heavy metal, from the atmosphere.
