News
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Health & MedicineGood Exposure: Contact with babies might lessen MS risk
People who grow up with younger siblings close to them in age are less likely to develop multiple sclerosis later in life than are people without such siblings.
By Nathan Seppa -
MathSizing Up Complex Webs: Close or far, many networks look the same
Complex networks, including the World Wide Web, have a common architecture with snowflakes and trees.
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Lost Sight, Found Sound: Visual cortex sees way to acquiring new duties
Brain areas that are usually devoted solely to vision can take on new duties following severe or total sight loss.
By Bruce Bower -
Giardia Bares All: Parasite genes reveal long sexual history
Sexual reproduction started billions of years ago, as soon as life forms that have nuclei and organelles within their cells branched off from their structurally simpler ancestors.
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Health & MedicineUrine test signals pregnancy problem
A simple urine test can warn women that they have an increased risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous complication of pregnancy.
By Nathan Seppa -
TechCongealing useful oddballs
A device for manipulating liquid droplets turns out to have the unexpected ability to fabricate tiny, solid balls with unusual, and potentially useful, patterned structures inside.
By Peter Weiss -
ChemistryBuilding artificial cells from scratch
Scientists have created artificial cells that can live and produce proteins as their natural counterparts do, but can't replicate.
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TechThrifty trucks go with the flow
Forcing air through strategically placed slits on a tractor trailer results in a major boost in fuel economy.
By Peter Weiss -
EarthEarly Warning: United States to deploy 32 more buoys for sensing tsunamis
On Jan. 14, the Bush administration announced a $37.5 million program to expand the nation's tsunami-warning capabilities.
By Sid Perkins -
TechMicro Musclebot: Wee walker moves by heart cells’ beats
A new breed of mobile micromachine made of living heart tissue, gold, and silicon takes a step with each rhythmic contraction of its muscle cells.
By Peter Weiss -
Materials ScienceInfrared Vision: New material may enhance plastic solar cells
The vision of flexible, low-cost, lightweight plastic solar cells has moved one step closer to reality with the creation of a material that can harness infrared light.
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EcosystemsBivalve Takeover: Once-benign clams boom after crab influx
European green crabs invading a California bay have triggered a population explosion of a previously marginal clam.
By Susan Milius