Uncategorized

  1. Archaeology

    Wild Chimps Rocked On: Apes left unique record of stone tools

    Researchers have uncovered the first archaeological site attributed to chimpanzees, which includes stone implements that were used to crack nuts on top of thick tree roots.

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  2. Icy Birth? Amino acids form in simulations of space ice

    Two experiments simulating the environment of interstellar space have produced amino acids—the building blocks of proteins.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    X rays tell stirring tale about fat

    X rays reveal how food processing shapes microscopic crystals of edible fats.

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  4. Tech

    Sowing neat rows of seeds on silicon

    A new way to introduce foreign atoms into silicon with atomic-scale precision may help chip manufacturers over a looming hurdle.

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  5. Astronomy

    Repainting the cosmic palette

    After all the hue and cry about the color of the universe, astronomers have now revised their findings: It’s not pale green, but boring old beige.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Researchers find how rhubarb remedy eases cholera

    Researchers in Japan have identified a natural compound responsible for the effectiveness of one rhubarb-based remedy to combat the overwhelming diarrhea that comes with cholera.

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  7. Planetary Science

    Mars Odyssey instrument revived

    Flight controllers have revived an instrument on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft that measures the amount of radiation bombarding the Martian surface.

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  8. Earth

    Rocks in Earth’s mantle could hold five oceans

    Analysis of minerals created in the laboratory under conditions that simulate those deep within the planet suggests that the zone of rocks just outside Earth's core could hold enough water to fill the oceans five times.

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  9. Earth

    Zooplankton diet of mercury varies

    By modeling a lake ecosystem in large tubs of water, researchers have found that zooplankton—an important link in the food chain—consume much less toxic methylmercury when the lake experiences an algal bloom.

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  10. Animals

    Lemonade from Broken Amber

    The fossilized microbes found inside termites that have been encased in amber for 20 million years are remarkably similar to those found within the ancient insects' modern cousins.

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  11. Tech

    Taming High-Tech Particles

    Researchers are beginning to study whether nanomaterials could have unintended negative consequences in the human body or the environment.

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  12. From the March 26, 1932, issue

    EASTER LILY UNFOLDS TALE TO X-RAY’S PIERCING EYE Ordinarily it is necessary to pull a flower to pieces to find what it is doing at any given moment in its development–and that, naturally, precludes one from following its development any further. One must turn to other flowers, at other stages of their unfolding, and ruin […]

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