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  1. Tech

    Switch-a-Vision: Electric spectacles could aid aging eyes

    A new type of eyeglasses that change their focus in response to electric signals may one day replace bifocals and other types of reading glasses.

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  2. 19671

    Your article states that farsightedness will be treated with these new electric lenses. With some tweaking, could nearsightedness and astigmatism be treated as well? Could binoculars, telescopes, and microscopes use this technology? Roger CurnowGrand Rapids, Mich. Yes and yes, says Dwight P. Duston of PixelOptics in Roanoke, Va. However, he notes that it’s instant switching […]

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  3. Astronomy

    Crash: Ripples of space-time debut in black hole simulations

    Two teams have for the first time successfully simulated the merger of two black holes and the event's production of gravitational waves.

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  4. Humans

    Letters from the April 22, 2006, issue of Science News

    Second cousins With reference to “Chimps creep closer yet” (SN: 2/11/06, p. 94), some scientists say that bonobos are genetically closer to humans than to chimps. How did they compare in the referenced study? Dick MedvickCleveland Heights, Ohio Bonobos are indeed as genetically close to humans as are chimps, but there wasn’t enough genomic data […]

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  5. Tech

    A better test for lung cancer?

    A genetic test of cells lining the windpipe can detect lung cancer in smokers.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Hot-pepper ingredient slows cancer in mice

    Capsaicin, the component of red pepper that makes it hot, kills cancer cells in a test tube and inhibits their growth in mice.

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  7. 19670

    This article raises a couple of questions for me. Recently, I drank some clam-tomato juice that contained jalapeño puree. It seemed to alleviate some of my internal ailments. So, I wonder if jalapeño peppers also contain capsaicin. Norman MooreBoca Raton, Fla. Jalapeño peppers do contain capsaicin, but it’s impossible to say whether the substance delivers […]

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  8. RNA test might reveal early cancer, offer drug target

    Short strands of genetic material called microRNAs could allow scientists to determine which colorectal cancers are likely to recur and might offer targets for new anti-cancer drugs.

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  9. Animals

    Worm can crawl out of predators

    A parasitic worm can wriggle out through a predator's gills or mouth if the predator eats the worm's insect host. With video.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Protein interacts with hormone that quells hunger

    A protein that's more abundant in the blood of obese people inactivates leptin, a hormone that controls hunger.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Ice among the rocks

    A newly discovered trio of icy comets, hidden among the thousands of rocks in the main asteroid belt, may be part of a previously unknown class and a primary source of water for the dry, early Earth.

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  12. Ecosystems

    Antarctic birds are breeding later

    Rising global temperatures are causing Arctic birds to breed earlier in the spring, but for Antarctic birds, the reverse is true.

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