Uncategorized
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Physics
Rock, paper, toxins
A computer model simulates a kind of rock-paper-scissors competition among three species of virtual bacteria.
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Stimulant Inaction: ADHD drug’s mental lift proves surprisingly weak
A widely used drug often calms children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder but does little to alleviate the condition's underlying mental deficits.
By Bruce Bower -
19897
This article suggests that Ritalin fails to “cure” attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Ritalin for ADHD is like glasses for a vision problem. True, it aids some functions and not others—visual memory, not executive function, for example. But for the right child at the right time, Ritalin can be tremendously helpful, especially combined with other support the […]
By Science News -
Planetary Science
Chilled Out? Ice could lurk beneath Martian equator
An immense volume of ice-rich material may underlie a formation that extends about one-quarter of the way around Mars' equator.
By Sid Perkins -
Earth
Clay That Kills: Ground yields antibacterial agents
A special type of French clay smothers a diverse array of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains and a particularly nasty pathogen that causes skin ulcers.
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Extreme Healing: Protein aids limb regrowth in newts
The ability of newts to regenerate severed limbs depends crucially on a protein released by the insulating sheath around nerves.
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Animals
Cousin Who? Gliding mammals may be primates’ nearest kin
Two species of small, little-known rain forest mammals may be primates' closest living relatives.
By Susan Milius -
Health & Medicine
Early Arrival: HIV came from Haiti to United States
New analysis of 25-year-old blood samples indicates that HIV reached the United States in about 1969, 12 years before AIDS was first formally described.
By Brian Vastag -
Math
Math on Fire
A supercomputer model fed by real-time data is beginning to make sense of the seemingly unpredictable movement of wildfires.
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Paleontology
Meet the old wolves, same as the new wolves
The dire wolf, an extinct species preserved in abundance at the La Brea tar pits, seems to have had a social structure similar to that of its modern-day relatives.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Dinosaurs matured sexually while still growing
Distinctive bone tissue in fossils of several dinosaur species suggests that the ancient reptiles became sexually mature long before they gained adult size.
By Sid Perkins -
Paleontology
Deinonychus’ claws were hookers, not rippers
The meat-eating dinosaur Deinonychus probably used the large, sicklelike claw on its foot to grip and climb large prey, not disembowel it.
By Sid Perkins