News
- Paleontology
Feathered fossil still stirs debate
More than 2 years after scientists first described 120-million-year-old fossils of a feathered animal, a new analysis seems to bolster the view that the turkey-size species was a bird has-been and not a bird wanna-be.
- Tech
Nanotechnologists get a squirt gun, almost
A novel computer simulation of molecular behavior suggests that a minuscule squirt gun able to spit liquids a few hundred nanometers ought to work.
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Skin cells reveal they have hairy origins
The outer layers of the skin may spring from cells in hair follicles.
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Study explores abortion’s mental aftermath
A majority of women report no increase in psychological problems after having an abortion, although nearly one in five express dissatisfaction and regret 2 years later about their decision.
- Astronomy
Young pulsar has a split personality
A new pulsar, the youngest discovered to date, unexpectedly exhibits properties of both regular pulsars and a recently explored class of supermagnetic pulsars, the magnetars.
- Health & Medicine
DNA vaccine immunizes fetal lambs
Canadian scientists have devised a way to vaccinate fetal lambs, which could spawn more research into in utero methods for preventing the spread of disease from mothers to their babies.
- Animals
Slavemaker Ants: Misunderstood Farmers?
A test of what once seemed too obvious to test—whether ant colonies suffer after being raided by slavemaker ants—suggests that some of the raiding insects have been getting unfair press.
- Animals
Fishy Paternity Defense: Bluegill dads: Not mine? Why bother?
Bluegill sunfish have provided an unusually tidy test of the much-discussed prediction that animal dads' diligence in child care depends on how certain they are that the offspring really are their own.
- Health & Medicine
Protein Pump: Experimental therapy fights Parkinson’s
Bathing surviving dopamine-making neurons with a natural protein that induces nerve-fiber growth reverses some of the symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients.
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Moving On: Now the human genome is really done
An international consortium of scientists announced that the deciphering of the human genetic code is now truly complete.
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Radiation Marks Chromosomes: Plutonium leaves genetic fingerprint
By examining specific types of long-lasting genetic rearrangements in blood cells, researchers have found a way to measure a person's past exposures to plutonium radiation.
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Neural Recall: Brain area may support fact and event memory
A brain structure called the hippocampus may crucially influence memory for both factual information and personally experienced events.
