News

  1. Bee Concerned: Big study—Selective pollinators are declining

    A new study provides evidence of a decline among some of Europe's insect pollinators and the wild plants that need them.

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  2. Physics

    Terrific Timekeeper: Optical atomic clock beats world standard

    An innovative atomic clock is more precise than the breed of clocks that's been the best for 50 years.

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  3. Earth

    Global warming heats up nursery of hurricanes

    Sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean reached record highs last year.

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  4. Earth

    Alaskan coral beds get new protection

    To protect cold-water corals, huge areas of Alaskan waters will be off limits to trawls and other fishing gear that typically scrape the seafloor.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Ingredient might prevent sexually transmitted disease

    A seaweed derivative that's commonly added to many consumer products as a thickening agent can inhibit the virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts.

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  6. Mammoths: Blondes and brunettes?

    The wool of woolly mammoths may have come in at least two shades.

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  7. Plants

    Orchid bends around to insert pollen

    An orchid species in China has set a new record for acrobatics in self-pollination, twisting its male organs around and inserting them into the cavity where the female organ lies.

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  8. Why people punish

    When punishing criminals, people tend to seek retribution, not deterrence.

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  9. Animals

    Stilts for ants make case for pedometer

    Changing the leg length of desert ants upsets their ability to judge distance, providing the first evidence in any animal of a built-in odometer based on stride.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Some deadly monikers

    Two recently found small moons orbiting Pluto have now been officially dubbed Nix and Hydra.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Statins might lower risk of cataracts

    Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins might slow the formation of certain types of cataracts in the eye.

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  12. Earth

    Radiation Redux: Forest fires remobilize fallout from bomb tests

    A sensor installed to monitor fallout from modern nuclear tests has detected small amounts of radioactive cesium produced by bomb tests decades ago and sent skyward by forest fires.

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