Uncategorized

  1. Planetary Science

    Dispatch from Mars, Sol 4

    The good news is a tentative sighting of ice by the Mars Phoenix Lander. The bad news is the discovery of a glitch in the system that will analyze soil samples.

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  2. Earth

    Virtual seismometer

    A new supercomputer simulation of the large quake that struck central China earlier this month could help researchers estimate the size of the ground motions experienced in areas that didn’t have seismic instruments.

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  3. Earth

    Death downwind

    Pollutants generated by human activity in Europe significantly boost ozone concentrations downwind, harming people’s health and causing thousands of premature deaths in North Africa, the Near East and the Middle East.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    High doses

    Emergency room patients are exposed to high doses of radiation from CT scans and other nuclear medicine.

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  5. Life

    Tracing human roots

    Using a new method of data analysis, researchers have found that the Americas were peopled in two different migrations.

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  6. Climate

    Already feeling the heat

    Long-delayed U.S. government summary of climate change science sees effects on energy, transportation, farming, and water.

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  7. Planetary Science

    Rarin’ to go

    After a day’s delay, the robotic arm on the Mars Phoenix Lander is free of its shackles and is preparing to dig for ice.

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  8. Archaeology

    Domain of the dead

    Researchers say that Stonehenge functioned as the largest cemetery of its time.

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  9. Archaeology

    Footprints in the ash

    Humans may have been walking around what is now central Mexico 40,000 years ago.

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  10. Animals

    Not so prudish after all

    Unsuspected genetic diversity found in asexual animals.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Reading minds … or at least brain scans

    By analyzing brain activity, computers can tell what word is on your mind.

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  12. Planetary Science

    More than a pinch

    Water believed to flow on the Red Planet would have been too salty to foster life, scientists suggest.

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