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  1. Brains show evolutionary designs

    Mammal species exhibit basic types of brain design from which they have evolved a wide array of brain sizes, according to a new analysis.

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  2. Astronomy

    Free-floaters: Images of planets?

    Several recent studies have escalated the debate about what exactly constitutes a planet.

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  3. 18932

    Please explain a curious statement in “A more perfect union.” The article paraphrases Jonas Sandstrom of Uppsala University in Sweden as suggesting that an “endosymbiont’s isolation may be a one-way ticket to extinction. Once the bacterium loses genes . . . it has no way of getting them back. It can’t, therefore, evolve away from […]

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  4. A More Perfect Union

    Forsaking life in the outside world, endosymbiotic bacteria of some insects traded freedom and nutrients for life inside a cell.

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  5. Chemistry

    Cosmic Chemistry Gets Creative

    By simulating extraterrestrial impacts on Earth, researchers are firing away at the question of how life started.

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  6. Computing

    Motif for Infection

    A novel computer program pinpoints proteins of troublesome bacteria.

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  7. Physics

    Device shifts molecules into slow motion

    Unlike other particle accelerators, which manipulate the speed and energy of charged particles, a new device accelerates neutral molecules such as ammonia.

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  8. Outcry saves National Zoo’s research site

    In the final hours, Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small withdrew his proposal to close the National Zoo's research center in Front Royal, Virginia.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Gene stifled in some lung, breast cancers

    The silencing of a gene called RASSF1A appears to increase the risk of cancer, studies of lung and breast tumors show.

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  10. Domesticated goats show unique gene mix

    A genetic analysis finds a surprising amount of genetic unity in goats living in Europe, Africa, and Asia, supporting the theory that goats were widely transported and traded throughout human history.

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  11. Astronomy

    Astronomers get the spin on black holes

    Recording the X-ray flashes emitted by matter as it plunges into one of these gravitational beasts, astronomers last week reported strong evidence that black holes spin like whirling dervishes, dragging space-time along with them.

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  12. Ecosystems

    Hurricanes’ full havoc yet to be felt

    When Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd, and Irene pummelled North Carolina in the fall of 1999, they delivered a three-punch sequence that may, for years to come, disrupt fishing in the Atlantic Ocean.

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