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  1. Planetary Science

    Martian Radiation: Giving off a faint X-ray glow

    Astronomers have for the first time taken an X-ray image of the Red Planet.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Predisposed to Trouble: Gene variants implicated in stomach cancer

    A person's risk of stomach cancer can depend on the genetics of both the individual and the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

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  3. Ecosystems

    Worm Attacks: Invading earthworms threaten rare U.S. fern

    An unusual study of the effects of invading earthworms on North American plants finds that the exotics might be on the way to killing off a rare fern.

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  4. Lost That Smoking Feeling: Emotions sputter as cigarette motivator

    The first detailed effort to monitor the reactions of cigarette smokers as they carry out their daily activities finds that they feel neither better nor worse than at times when they don't begin smoking.

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  5. Math

    Fold-and-Cut Magic

    One of the treats of holidays long past was an activity that involved folding, then cutting a sheet or strip of paper to reveal a lacy snowflake or a chain of identical spruce trees, connected at their sides so it looked like branches brushing up against each other. The result was invariably a delightful surprise. […]

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  6. Earth

    Outside-In: Clearing up how cloud droplets freeze

    A fresh look at old experimental data suggests that water droplets in clouds freeze from the outside inward rather than from their core outward.

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  7. 19202

    What is reported in this article is a new application of an old idea. In the 1950s and early 1960s, engineers would check a computer by setting a radio beside the central processing unit to pick up the electromagnetic signals put out by switching vacuum tubes and, later, transistors. By programming so that the switching […]

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  8. Computing

    Loony Tunes: Bugs blare in software set to music

    A novel way of converting computer programs into familiar-sounding music helps programmers locate errors in their code.

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  9. Astronomy

    Cosmic Couple: One galaxy, two gravitational beasts

    Astronomers welcomed the discovery of two black holes in one galaxy, which confirms some ideas about how galaxies and black holes merge and evolve.

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  10. Humans

    From the November 26, 1932, issue

    BOYS WORSE OFFENDERS To aid the harassed parents of temperish youngsters, Dr. Florence L. Goodenough of the Institute of Child Welfare, University of Minnesota, has made a scientific study of anger in young children–what are the immediate causes of outbursts, what are the underlying causes, what methods are commonly used to suppress it, and what […]

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  11. Humans

    Moon Trees

    In 1971, astronaut Stuart Roosa brought hundreds of tree seeds with him on the Apollo 14 flight to the moon. Known as “moon trees,” the resulting seedlings were planted throughout the United States and elsewhere. This Web site chronicles that project and documents what happened to those seedlings. Go to: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html

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  12. Math

    Puzzling Lines

    Sol LeWitt’s “Four-Sided Pyramid” at the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. I. Peterson LeWitt’s “Wall Drawing No. 623” at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. I. Peterson Born in Hartford, Conn., in 1928, artist Sol LeWitt has often featured geometric and combinatorial themes in his numerous creations. His frequent […]

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