News

  1. Physics

    Water not so squishy under pressure

    In planets' cores, molecules may not compress tightly.

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  2. Humans

    Technique may reveal where it all began

    A new strategy overcomes a distance quandary as it tracks the origins of widespread phenomena — from an E. coli outbreak to a fad.

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  3. Humans

    Modern era brings death to words

    An analysis of books published over two centuries shows how words are born or succumb to shifting social and technological influences.

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  4. Life

    After a breakup, coral embryos live on as clones

    Even modest waves can break apart embryonic corals, but the bits that survive can grow into separate clones.

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  5. Psychology

    Kids flex cultural muscles

    Young children, but not chimps or monkeys, generate collective leaps of knowledge.

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  6. Physics

    Hydrogen takes a new form

    High-pressure studies may reveal a fourth phase for the element.

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  7. Earth

    Fault’s twists may shake up earthquake forecasts

    Deep angles along the southern San Andreas mean future temblors may be stronger than predicted.

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  8. Life

    When giant fleas roamed

    Fossils show ancient insects grew as long as 2 centimeters.

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  9. Space

    Aura of life captured in Earthshine

    Light from Earth reflected off the moon contains the kind of information that could prove useful in the characterization of faraway exoplanets.

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  10. Life

    Pollutants long gone, but disease carries on

    Even without new exposures, various chemicals can impact DNA and cause illness across at least three subsequent generations, rat study finds.

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  11. Anthropology

    Frozen mummy’s genetic blueprints unveiled

    DNA study reveals the 5,300-year-old Iceman had brown eyes, Lyme disease and links to modern-day Corsicans and Sardinians.

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  12. Life

    Sardine fishery may be in peril

    Cool ocean cycle, population slide evoke collapse of Pacific resource in the late 1940s.

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