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  1. Earth

    Ssshhh! South Pole has a new seismic station

    Seismometers recently installed near the South Pole reveal that the area is the quietest spot on the planet for eavesdropping on earthquakes.

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  2. 19163

    Why has so much focus been placed on protecting us against the threat of a smallpox outbreak when a terrorist could choose to release a different infectious disease? Wouldn’t it be wiser to discuss ways to respond to and contain any unknown disease? More public awareness of this possibility would prevent the false sense of […]

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  3. Health & Medicine

    The Vaccinia Dilemma

    To inform the current debate on who should be vaccinated for smallpox given the possibility of—or in the event of—a bioterrorism attack, researchers are using mathematical models and data from vaccination campaigns and past smallpox outbreaks.

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  4. Tech

    Building a Better Shuttle

    Researchers are working on both more heat-tolerant materials and totally new designs for vehicles that might ultimately replace the space shuttle.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Morbid Mystery Tour: Epidemic from China is encircling globe

    An outbreak of deadly pneumonia that apparently began in southern China spread in March to at least two other continents, including North America.

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  6. Paleontology

    Fine Toothcomb: New fossils add to primate-origins debate

    The discovery of 40-million-year-old teeth and jaw fragments belonging to ancient forms of lorises and bushbabies doubles the age of the fossil record for a major primate group.

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  7. Materials Science

    A Hard Little Lesson: Squeezed nanospheres grow superstrong

    A substance not known for its hardness—silicon—becomes one of the hardest of materials when formed into ultrasmall spheres.

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  8. Earth

    Dioxin Dumps: Burning exposed trash pollutes soil

    The practice of burning refuse in the open in many underdeveloped countries creates prodigious quantities of harmful polychlorinated compounds.

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  9. Earth

    Clean Casualties: Everyday chemicals may shift ecosystems

    Trace amounts of the chemical concoctions used to battle bacteria in kitchens and bathrooms may kill off algae, an effect that researchers say may have far-reaching consequences.

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  10. Animals

    Secret Signal: Fish allurement that predators don’t see

    In a rare demonstration of secret messaging in animals, a swordtail fish uses ultraviolet courtship signals that are invisible to a predator.

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  11. By a Nose? Human sperm may sniff out the path to an egg

    A man's sperm appear to possess a primitive kind of nose that enables them to navigate to a woman's egg by scent.

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  12. Animals

    At last, a bird that nails killer chicks

    For the first time, researchers have found a bird species—Australia's superb fairy-wren—that reacts when all its own chicks disappear and a giant imposter takes their place.

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