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Humans

Butting out together

Cigarette smokers who know one another tend to kick the habit all at once, highlighting the importance of social forces in smoking-cessation treatment.

Chemistry

Slippery when dry

Surfaces that mimic the back of an African beetle can collect water from fog.

Health & Medicine

Trust again

The ability to trust others even after violations of trust is regulated by the hormone oxytocin.

Earth

Asbestos-like nanotubes

Some carbon nanotubes show signs of asbestos-like toxicity.

Space

Supernova Outbreak

Thanks to a lucky break and an overactive galaxy, astronomers report the earliest detection yet of a normal supernova—the explosive death of a massive star.

Health & Medicine

Nonstick toxicity

By mimicking the action of estrogen, a widely used nonstick chemical promotes cancer development in animals.

Animals

Courting both ways

Some extra dopamine, and male fruit flies like boys too.

Life

These colors don’t run

A chameleon employs different color-changing defenses depending on its predator.

Health & Medicine

Donor dilemma

Blood donors age 16 or 17 are more apt to faint than older donors.

Life

Reviving extinct DNA

For the first time, scientists have resurrected a piece of DNA from an extinct animal — the Tasmanian tiger. The researchers engineered mice with a piece of the long-gone marsupial's DNA that turns on a collagen gene in cartilage-producing cells.

Tech

I, computer

Bacteria that can "flip pancakes" with their DNA are the first microbes engineered to be living computers.

Health & Medicine

Itchy and scratchy

People with a close relative who has had shingles face a heightened risk of getting the skin disease, and should probably be first in line to get the vaccine.