Uncategorized
- 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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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.
- Astronomy
Hefty Find: Density has starring role in making stars massive
Astronomers find new insights into how massive stars form.
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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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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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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.
- 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.
- Tech
Diamond detectors
The quantum states of single diamond impurities work as magnetic sensors that could enable nuclear magnetic resonance to detect single atoms.
- Ecosystems
Predators return
Warming waters could push new predators into Antarctica's delicate ecosystems.
- Agriculture
Resistance to Bt crops emerges
Resistance to pest-killing cotton crops is spreading among one species of caterpillar, but techniques to prevent the spread of resistance appear to be working for five other species.
