Uncategorized
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Seaweed Sights
Should dabberblocks, murlins, and sea whistles come up in conversation, here’s the page for figuring out what’s going on. The seaweed Web site, hosted at the National University of Ireland, Galway, offers a gallery of glamour photos of prominent seaweeds, as well as an introduction to the seaweeds we may not have realized we were […]
- Animals
Cold Hamsters: Wild species boosts immunity for winter
Hamsters that have to survive winter outdoors in Siberia rev up their immune systems, including their response to psychological stress, when days grow short.
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If an animal can boost its immune system in response to shortening days, why would it not keep its immune system operating at that higher level all the time? Is there some physiological cost to maintaining a higher level of immune response? Michael LehnerGreenfield, N.H. According to Staci D. Bilbo of Johns Hopkins University in […]
- Earth
A Confluence of Contaminants: Streams’ organic mix may pose environmental risk
The combined effects of at least some of several dozen organic contaminants newly identified in U.S. streams may pose risks to aquatic organisms.
- Animals
Leave It to Evolution: Duplicated gene aids odd monkey diet
A duplicated gene that has rapidly evolved helps certain monkey species thrive on a diet of leaves.
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At certain points in this article, the word evolution is directly tied with a verb in ways that perpetuate (however unintentionally) the misconception that evolution proceeds with a purpose or goal, perhaps even with a guiding sentience. It is obvious that you are simply using such phrases to make the articles easy to read and […]
- Paleontology
Old Frilly Face: Triceratops’ relative fills fossil-record gap
Fossils of a creature the size of a Texas jackrabbit cast new light on the early evolution of a group of horned dinosaurs that include the 8-meter-long Triceratops.
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Microbes Fire an Oozie: Slime engines may push bacteria along
Some bacteria may propel themselves with slime engines: clusters of nozzles at the ends of the microbes that exude viscous goop.
- Health & Medicine
Brave New Drug: Compound stops cowpox and smallpox viruses
A new drug called HDP-CDV stops smallpox virus from replicating in lab tests and cowpox virus from replicating in mice, suggesting it could work as a treatment for smallpox in people.
- Anthropology
Unified Erectus: Fossil suggests single human ancestor
A newly found fossil skull may clear up an ongoing debate about whether the human ancestor Homo erectus was a single or several species.
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The article says of physicists’ thinking about black holes in Earth’s atmosphere, “Those newly created black holes would then quickly decay, harmlessly raining subatomic particles down onto our planet and ourselves.” Surely not every physicist thinks the possibility of creating a black hole is not dangerous. Could we not hear from the opponents of make-your-own-black-hole […]
- Physics
The Black Hole Next Door
Microscopic black holes—fleeting replicas of the huge, matter-gobbling ones in space—may be detected soon in our atmosphere and at a big particle collider now being built.
