News

  1. Earth

    Diabetes from a Plastic? Estrogen mimic provokes insulin resistance

    Exposure to trace amounts of an estrogenlike ingredient of polycarbonate plastic may increase the risk of diabetes, experiments in mice show.

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  2. Dieting to Save a Species: Mother parrots that eat less avoid excess of sons

    New Zealand's endangered, flightless parrot population is recovering from a shortage of daughters now that conservationists are counting calories for the mothers.

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  3. Astronomy

    Cosmic Push: Finding pieces of a dark puzzle

    A controversial new study, the first to use gamma-ray bursts to measure the expansion of the universe far back in time, hints that dark energy may not be constant in time.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Defenses Down: Mutation boosts West Nile risk

    A genetic mutation has been identified that increases a person's susceptibility to West Nile virus.

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  5. Astronomy

    Images reveal possible origin of young stars

    Astronomers say they have solved the riddle of how young, massive stars can reside so close to the monster black hole at the Milky Way's center.

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  6. Planetary Science

    One star better than two?

    Rather than disrupting the planet-forming process around another star, a nearby companion may sometimes enhance it, new computer simulations suggest.

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  7. Astronomy

    Hubble spots North Star companion

    Astronomers have obtained an image of a close companion star to Polaris, the North Star.

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  8. Astronomy

    Gravity at play

    Astronomers have found 19 cosmic mirages, distorted images created when the gravity of a massive galaxy bends and magnifies the light from a background object.

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  9. Materials Science

    Making waves

    Scientists have created thin, wavy silicon ribbons that stretch along with their rubber backing.

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  10. Tech

    Cranberry aid for assay

    Cranberry juice, often used to stave off urinary-tract infections caused by Escherichia coli, also keeps the bacterium from reducing a biosensor's specificity.

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  11. Archaeology

    Getting a read on early Maya writing

    Excavators of a pyramid in northeastern Guatemala announced the discovery of the earliest known Maya writing.

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  12. Robo Receptor: Researchers engineer a brain ion channel to take its cues from light

    Scientists have engineered an ion channel in nerve cells to open or close in response to light.

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