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  1. Laboratory Disease: Robert Koch’s Medical Bacteriology by Christoph Gradmann and Elborg Forster, translator

    A science historian examines the origins of the field of medical bacteriology and the life of one of its founders. Laboratory Disease: Robert Koch’s Medical Bacteriology by Christoph Gradmann and Elborg Forster, translator Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009, 318 p., $35.

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  2. Understanding Solid State Physics by Sharon Ann Holgate

    The authors explain basic physics principles with undergraduates in mind. UNDERSTANDING SOLID STATE PHYSICS BY SHARON ANN HOLGATE CRC Press, 2010, 349 p., $79.95.

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  3. The Nature Study Movement by Kevin C. Armitage

    A scholar describes the amateur naturalists of the late 19th century and their influence on modern environmentalism. THE NATURE STUDY MOVEMENT BY KEVIN C. ARMITAGE University Press of Kansas, 2009, 291 p., $34.95.

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  4. Turtles: The Animal Answer Guide by Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene

    Turtle experts address 100 or so of the most common questions about these reptiles. TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE BY WHIT GIBBONS AND JUDY GREENE Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009, 163 p., $24.95.

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  5. Science Future by January 30, 2010

    February 20–21 Free science discussion sessions and demos are open to the public at the AAAS annual meeting in San Diego. See www.aaas.org/meetings/2010  February 24–26 The International Stroke Conference 2010 is held in San Antonio. See strokeconference.org March 31 New nomination deadline for the 2010 National Medal of Science. Get forms at www.nsf.gov/od/nms/medal.jsp

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  6. Science Past from the issue of January 30, 1960

    SAFE SEASONINGS NAMED — Some 150 seasonings and flavorings — ranging from the familiar cinnamon to exotic “ylang-ylang” — have been put on the safe list, the Food and Drug Administration has announced. Manufacturers who use these flavors in their food products need not furnish further proof of their safety. The list includes cloves, nutmeg, […]

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  7. Letters

    Thinking animals An interesting article, but the question of human consciousness seems no closer to solution in “Humans wonder, anybody home?” by Susan Gaidos (SN: 12/19/09, p. 22) than it did in Julian Jaynes’ The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind of 1976. It seems to me that all the mental […]

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  8. Humans

    Copenhagen climate summit yields ‘real deal’ to limit greenhouse gases

    Nonbinding accord still needs beefing up, negotiators agree.

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  9. Physics

    Liquid light bender proposed

    Tiny nanoparticles dispersed in fluid may hide objects.

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  10. Psychology

    Newborns nurse long-term memories of smells

    Newborn babies readily link specific scents to breast-feeding and favor those smells as toddlers.

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  11. Life

    Alligators breathe like birds

    Tricky measurements of flow reveal that air moves through the animal in one direction.

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  12. Climate

    Acidifying ocean may stifle phytoplankton

    Chemical changes in seawater make a key nutrient less available to these organisms.

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