News
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Chemistry
Snot has the power to alter scents
Enzymes in mice's nasal mucus can alter certain odors before the nose can detect them, a new study finds.
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Physics
Dissolving a puzzle
A mathematical analysis shows what it takes to remove rock fast enough to create a cavern.
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Chemistry
The nitty-gritty of diamond polishing
Researchers figure out what happens at the atomic scale when jewelers polish the hardest substance known.
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Humans
Vitamin D targets increased
A panel advises raising the dietary allowance for the nutrient, but some scientists say the new recommendations are still woefully low.
By Nathan Seppa -
Humans
World could heat up 4 degrees C in 50 years
Immediate and substantial action to reduce emissions would be needed to meet climate negotiators' goal of holding warming to a 2 degree Celsius increase, a new package of scientific papers concludes.
By Janet Raloff -
Life
Getting dissed could be partly genetic
In marmot social networks, victimization may be to some degree heritable.
By Susan Milius -
Space
Cosmic rebirth
Circular patterns in the universe's pervasive background radiation suggest that the Big Bang was not the beginning of the universe, but only the latest of its incarnations.
By Ron Cowen -
Life
Mammal size maxed out after dinos’ demise
Opening new ecological niches led to a worldwide boom in size, up to a point.
By Susan Milius -
Health & Medicine
A few stray hairs
Brain regions that sense the world can also flick a whisker, research in mice shows, suggesting that the organ’s division of labor is not so clear-cut.
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Earth
Shuttle images reveal Egypt’s lost great lake
Radar studies of desert drainage patterns point to ancient oases in the Sahara.
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Space
How to use a pulsar to find Starbucks
Using stars as celestial beacons could be a backup if GPS ground stations failed.