News
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Hot Cereal: Rice reveals bumper crop of genes
Two research groups have identified all the genes in rice, the world's most important crop.
By John Travis -
ArchaeologyNew World hunters get a reprieve
New radiocarbon evidence indicates that, beginning around 11,000 years ago, human hunters contributed to North American mammal extinctions that had already been triggered by pronounced climate shifts.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyStone Age Siberians move up in time
Siberian sites previously thought to have been bases for early human excursions into North America may only date to about 11,300 years ago, when people have traditionally been assumed to have first reached Alaska.
By Bruce Bower -
EarthSatellites discover new Arctic islands
Danish researchers analyzing satellite observations of remote Tobias Island, discovered in 1993 off the northeastern coast of Greenland, have stumbled upon a new group of small islands nearby.
By Sid Perkins -
Health & MedicineA tasty discovery about the tongue
Scientists can now explain how the tongue tastes the amino acids in proteins.
By John Travis -
AnimalsReal pandas do handstands
A giant panda that upends itself into a handstand may be sending a message that it's one big bamboo-thrasher and not to be messed with.
By Susan Milius -
ChemistryNoble gases and uranium get cozy
Chemists have created the first compounds containing both uranium and noble gases.
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Health & MedicineClotting protein hinders nerve repair
A blood-clotting protein called fibrin seems to exacerbate the regrowth problems that plague severed nerves.
By Nathan Seppa -
AnimalsNephews, Cousins . . . Who Cares? Detecting kin doesn’t mean favoring them
New tests of the amazing nose power of Belding's ground squirrels has solved a 25-year-old puzzle about doing dangerous favors for relatives.
By Susan Milius -
EarthAll Cracked Up from the Heat? Major hunk of an Antarctic ice shelf shatters and drifts away
A Rhode Island-size section of an Antarctic ice shelf splintered into thousands of icebergs in a mere 5-week period during the area's warmest summer on record.
By Sid Perkins -
Health & MedicineDeciphering Virulence: Heart-harming bacteria flaunt unique viral genes
By documenting genetic variation among bacteria responsible for a heart-damaging illness known as rheumatic fever, researchers may have opened paths to new preventive measures and treatments.
By Ben Harder -
Bright Idea: Protein relocation helps eyes adapt to light
Animals appear to adapt to bright light by reducing their use of proteins involved in the eye's light-detecting systems.
By John Travis