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  1. Earth

    Tainted by Cleanser: Antimicrobial agent persists in sludge

    About 76 percent of a commonly used antimicrobial agent exits sewage-treatment plants as a component of the sludge that's often used as a farm fertilizer.

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  2. Humans

    Letters from the May 6, 2006, issue of Science News

    Same old grind “Ancient Andean Maize Makers: Finds push back farming, trade in highland Peru” (SN: 3/4/06, p. 132) remarks on maize starch granules being “consistent with” stone grinding. The presence of lowland arrowroot on one tool is consistent with trade, but it is equally consistent with a wandering hunter grabbing a root in the […]

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  3. Wired for math

    The same neural circuits that adults use to perform complex calculations are already at work in preschoolers doing basic math.

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  4. Humans

    Clinical trials really pay off

    Large-scale human trials of new treatments in medicine have the potential to offer huge economic benefits from improved quality of life.

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  5. Physics

    Confined gas rejects compromise

    Pairs of tiny gas clouds of unequal energies mixing inside narrow tubes retain their original energy differences.

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  6. Animals

    Just turn your back, Mom

    A female in a species of legless amphibians called caecilians nourishes her youngsters by letting them eat the skin off her back.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Liver regeneration tied to bile acids

    Bile, a digestive juice, plays an integral role in the regeneration of liver tissue.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Two drugs are equal in preventing breast cancer

    A commonly prescribed anti-osteoporosis drug works as well at preventing breast cancer as the sole drug currently prescribed for the task.

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  9. Humans

    Study finds bias in peer review

    Researchers have found evidence of bias when scientists review data and the researcher's name and affiliation are available to the reviewers.

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  10. Animals

    Bird hormone cuts noise distractions

    A jolt of springtime hormones makes a female sparrow's brain more responsive to song.

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  11. Planetary Science

    The Whole Enceladus

    Saturn's moon Enceladus has become the hottest new place to look for life in the chilly outer solar system.

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  12. Earth

    Particular Problems

    Toxicologists and chemists are forging a new field called nanotoxicology as they grapple with assessing the safety of engineered nanoparticles.

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