News
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Older isn’t wiser in moral reasoning
Researchers find more endorsement of immanent justice, the belief that the natural world punishes human misdeeds, among college students than sixth-graders.
By Ruth Bennett -
Out of China: SARS virus’ genome hints at independent evolution
The newly identified SARS virus is the product of a long and private evolutionary history, clues from its genome suggest.
By Ben Harder - Materials Science
Blunt Answer: Cracking the puzzle of elastic solids’ toughness
Rubbery materials prove tougher than theory predicts because cracks trying to penetrate those stretchy materials grow blunt at their tips.
By Peter Weiss - Materials Science
Bone Fix: New material responds to growing tissue
A new scaffolding material stimulates bone regeneration.
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Genetic Clue to Aging? Mutation causes early-aging syndrome
A gene defect that causes accelerated aging may provide insight into normal aging.
By John Travis - Earth
Feel the Heat: Rain forests may slow their growth in warmer world
During a long-term research project in a Central American rain forest, mature trees grew more slowly in warm years than they did in cooler ones.
By Sid Perkins -
Fig-Wasp Upset: Classic partnership isn’t so tidy after all
Genetic analysis suggests that a textbook example of a tight buddy system in nature—fig species that supposedly each have their own pollinating wasp species—may need to be rewritten.
By Susan Milius - Math
Spheres in Disguise: Solid proof offered for famous conjecture
A Russian mathematician has proposed a proof of the Poincaré conjecture, a question about the shapes of three-dimensional spaces.
- Health & Medicine
Teen taters, too
The epidemic of adolescent obesity may owe more to a paucity of exercise than to a growing intake of calories.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Athletes develop whey-better muscles
Dietary supplements coupling whey and creatine promote the development of bigger, stronger muscles in experienced body builders.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Prenatal nicotine: A role in SIDS?
New data suggest why exposure to nicotine in the womb can put an infant at greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Little vessels react to magnetic switch
Magnets can act like vascular switches, increasing or decreasing blood flow to a region of the body.
By Janet Raloff