News
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HumansWorld 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 -
LifeGetting dissed could be partly genetic
In marmot social networks, victimization may be to some degree heritable.
By Susan Milius -
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SpaceCosmic 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 -
LifeMammal 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 & MedicineA 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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EarthShuttle images reveal Egypt’s lost great lake
Radar studies of desert drainage patterns point to ancient oases in the Sahara.
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SpaceHow to use a pulsar to find Starbucks
Using stars as celestial beacons could be a backup if GPS ground stations failed.
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PhysicsNegative temperature, infinitely hot
Physicists propose using ultracold atoms to create a thermodynamics puzzle routinely in the laboratory.
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LifeBig reveals for genome of tiny animal
Tunicates’ scrambled gene order suggests that arrangement may not matter for vertebrate body plan and hints at the origins of mysterious DNA chunks called introns.
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Health & MedicineAntiretroviral drugs may prevent HIV infection
Gay and bisexual men who don’t have the AIDS virus can reduce their risk of getting it by taking a drug combination, a new study finds.
By Nathan Seppa -
HumansVisor might protect troops from blasts
Computer simulations show that the current military helmet lets explosive forces into the head through the face.