Uncategorized
- Physics
Clues to exotic particles found again
Although a correction to theory last year watered down its results, further analysis of a muon experiment still provides hints of new subatomic particles.
- Earth
Uncertainty returns over sex-change fish
Scientists question whether a potentially gender-bending hormone found in polluted Florida streams is responsible for masculinized female fish.
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Grief travels different paths
A rare study of elderly individuals before and after the death of their spouses finds that a surprisingly large number stayed on an even emotional keel.
- Health & Medicine
Pet exposure may reduce allergies
Exposing children to cats or dogs at an early age may make them less prone to allergies later in life.
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19026
Rather than early exposure to pets preventing allergies, I suspect that families who have allergies may generally tend to avoid having pets in the home because they cause physical discomfort to allergy sufferers. Terry LeeYerington, Nev.
- Anthropology
Gene change hints at brain evolution
A genetic mutation found only in humans first appeared around 2.8 million years ago, perhaps setting the stage for brain enlargement in the Homo lineage.
- Tech
Pocket Sockets
Keenly aware of user frustration with the short-lived batteries in cell phones and other portable electronics, researchers are rushing to work out the bugs in tiny fuel-cell power plants that will be as small as batteries—but last a lot longer and be refuelable.
- Health & Medicine
Missed ZZZ’s, More Disease?
New evidence suggests that chronic lack of sleep may be as important as poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the development of chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
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Your article brought to mind how this affects me. I’m a firefighter, so prone to sleep deprivation. I have noticed that when sleep patterns are repeatedly interrupted by emergency calls, I tend to be more susceptible to illness. This is anecdotal but seems to hold true for my colleagues and me. Ryan SmithForest Grove, Ore. […]
- Health & Medicine
Bacteria offer drug for organ recipients
Korean investigators have identified a compound that suppresses the immune system of animals.
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Rift of Gab: Speech insights spark statistical static
A controversial new study suggests that people use statistical regularities in language to recognize individual words but not to discern rules for word construction.
- Chemistry
Germ Fighter: Lens coating may keep contacts in eye longer
A new antibacterial coating may allow contact lenses to remain in a person's eyes for up to 3 months.
