News
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Orangutans hand it to researchers
Orangutans try to communicate by gesturing when they think they're being misunderstood, much as people do when playing charades.
- Earth
Lack of oxygen stunts fish reproduction
Seasonal oxygen shortages in coastal waters, increasing in severity because of pollution, may impair fish reproduction.
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Virus thrives by hiding
Some viruses create cocoonlike refuges in the cells they invade, shielding them from the cell's defense mechanisms.
- Anthropology
Men’s fertile role in evolving long lives
The ability of men 55 and older to father children may have had evolutionary effects that caused both sexes to develop longer lifespans.
- Health & Medicine
HIV is double trouble for brain
The virus that causes AIDS can also cause dementia, by both killing mature brain cells and blocking the creation of new ones.
- Planetary Science
A different view of Uranus’ rings
The rings of Uranus are now tilted edge on to Earth, revealing small, inner rings made of fine dust.
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Bipolar Express: Mental ailment expands rapidly among youth
Diagnosis of bipolar disorder in kids and teenagers has dramatically increased since 1994, raising concerns that this severe mood disorder is being overdiagnosed.
- Earth
Sonic Sands: Uncovering the secret of the booming dunes
The age-old mystery of sand dunes that produce loud, thrumming noises is explained by a new theory that involves a resonant layer of dry sand.
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Role Change: Mast cells show an anti-inflammatory side
Cells that cause inflammation in allergic skin reactions to poison ivy also produce a protein that subdues the reaction a few days later.
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Live Wires: Axons can influence nerve impulses
Axons are not simply passive carriers of electrical signals in the brain, but influence how neurons fire.
- Astronomy
Killer Collision: Dino demise traces to asteroid-family breakup
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was a wayward fragment from a violent collision in the asteroid belt.
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The Venter Decryption: Biologist decodes his own genome
For the first time, one man's genome, including both sets of chromosomes, has been decoded.
