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  1. Discoveries of the Census of Marine Life: Making Ocean Life Count by Paul V.R. Snelgrove

    Stunning photographs illustrate this compendium of new scientific knowledge gleaned from the largest-ever cataloging of ocean life. DISCOVERIES OF THE CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE: MAKING OCEAN LIFE COUNT BY PAUL V.R. SNELGROVE Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011, 270 p., $45.

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  2. Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the Star That Gives Us Life by Richard Cohen

    Traveling to nearly 20 countries, the author traces efforts to understand Earth’s nearest star, from ancient Egyptian sun myths to a modern-day Antarctic observatory. CHASING THE SUN: THE EPIC STORY OF THE STAR THAT GIVES US LIFE BY RICHARD COHEN Random House, 2010, 574 p., $35.

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  3. Neuroscience exposes pernicious effects of poverty

    At the 2010 Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego, a group of scientists held a session on how poverty changes the brain. Neuroscientist Helen Neville of the University of Oregon in Eugene joined the discussion and described some of her group’s studies on the brains of 3- to 5-year-old children who grow up poor. […]

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  4. Letters

    Prescient Editor in Chief? I got behind on magazine reading over the summer; now that colder weather is here I’m catching up, randomly. I read the Nov. 6 issue one day, with the Life article on microbes that walk on their pili (“Sure, but can they chew gum too?” SN: 11/6/10, p. 8); the next […]

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  5. Math

    Fruit flies teach computers a lesson

    Insect's nerve cell development is a model of efficiency for sensing networks.

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  6. Psychology

    The write stuff for test anxiety

    A brief writing exercise prompts higher exam scores for students struggling with academic stress.

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  7. Earth

    2010 ties record for warmest year yet

    El Ni±o heated things up even as global temperatures continue to rise in the hottest decade on record.

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  8. Paleontology

    Early meat-eating dinosaur unearthed

    Pint-sized, two-legged runner from Argentina dates back to the dawn of the dinos, 230 million years ago.

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  9. Humans

    Marking penguins for study may do harm

    Metal flipper bands used to tell birds apart hamper survival and reproduction, a 10-year study finds.

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  10. Space

    Neighboring black hole puts on weight

    Galaxy M87's massive heart weighs as much as 6.6 billion suns.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    When good cholesterol is even better

    It's quality, not just quantity, of high-density lipoprotein that counts in heart disease, study suggests.

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  12. Life

    Songbird’s testosterone surges at sight of thistle blooms

    Seeing the right flowers in summer temperatures triggers male goldfinches’ reproductive readiness.

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