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  1. 19930

    I feel that Rachel Ehrenberg was entirely too glib in this article. The description of an ancient Mayan religious ritual as “plucking the hearts from humans and tossing the bodies into the sacred cenote” is disrespectful. I am sure that Science News would never describe any contemporary religious rituals in this manner. Here is hoping […]

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Pinning down malaria’s global reach

    A new survey and map of malarial areas worldwide show 2.4 billion people at risk.

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  3. Earth

    Greener Green Energy: Today’s solar cells give more than they take

    With new production techniques, the total emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants from making and using solar panels are now only one-tenth as high as those of conventional power generation.

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  4. Drug or No Drug: Placebos may be more than appeasing

    A new analysis of FDA data concludes that placebo pills generally offer almost as much symptom relief to depressed patients as antidepressant medications do, raising questions about physicians' antidepressant-prescription practices.

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  5. Astronomy

    Hefty Find: Density has starring role in making stars massive

    Astronomers find new insights into how massive stars form.

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  6. True Blue: Electron jumps make protein shine like an LED

    A protein thought to be fluorescent instead emits light the way an LED does, suggesting that some living things might do the same.

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  7. Anthropology

    Hairy Forensics: Isotopes can identify the regions where a person may have lived

    The proportions of certain chemical isotopes in someone's hair can help detectives pin down that individual's region of origin and track their recent movements, a finding that could be particularly useful in forensic investigations.

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  8. Animals

    Great spots for white sharks

    The great white sharks of the eastern Pacific may be genetically isolated from the world's other white sharks, and tagging data reveal that the animals stick to specific routes and destinations.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Sun, inflammation speed aging of skin

    Gene profiles show inflammation is the key to making skin age, and sun exposure speeds the process.

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  10. New dating finds oldest coral yet

    A sample of a black coral from a depth of 400 meters turns to be 4,200 years old.

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  11. Earth

    Dioxin’s long reach

    Breast development is delayed in teenage girls who were exposed to the organic pollutant dioxin in the womb and in their mothers' breast milk.

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  12. Tech

    Diamond detectors

    The quantum states of single diamond impurities work as magnetic sensors that could enable nuclear magnetic resonance to detect single atoms.

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