Uncategorized
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Life
The physics of mosquito takeoffs shows why you don’t feel a thing
Even when full of blood, mosquitoes use more wing force than leg force to escape a host undetected — clue to why they’re so good at spreading disease.
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Health & Medicine
Animal study reveals how a fever early in pregnancy can cause birth defects
Using chicken embryos, study shows that heat itself, not an infectious agent, is the driving factor behind certain heart and facial birth defects.
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Artificial Intelligence
The newest AlphaGo mastered the game with no human input
AlphaGo Zero is the first AI system of its kind to learn the game just by playing against itself.
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Science & Society
Conspiring with engineers helps make science great
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill says the passion to acquire knowledge and apply it lives in both engineers and scientists.
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Particle Physics
Readers question photons colliding, black sea snakes and more
Readers had questions about brain flexibility, black sea snakes and photon collisions.
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Animals
Being a vampire can be brutal. Here’s how bloodsuckers get by.
Blood-sucking animals have specialized physiology and other tools to live on a diet rich in protein and lacking in some nutrients.
By Susan Milius -
Astronomy
Here’s what space toilets can teach us about finding signs of alien life
Lessons learned from flushing space toilets can help researchers plan life-hunting missions to icy moons.
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Earth
How volcanoes may have ended the dynasty of Ptolemy and Cleopatra
Volcanic ash in polar ice reveal a link between eruptions and the timing of revolts in Cleopatra’s Egypt.
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Tech
This stretchy implant could help kids avoid repeated open-heart surgeries
A new type of surgical implant grows along with its recipient.
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Oceans
Here’s a breakdown of the animals that crossed the Pacific on 2011 tsunami debris
Hundreds of marine animals from Japan have washed up on U.S. beaches since the destructive 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
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Health & Medicine
A universal flu shot may be nearing reality
Scientists are developing a universal vaccine against flu, making annual shots a thing of the past.
By Laura Beil -
Physics
New physics books don’t censor the math behind reality
Special Relativity and Classical Theory and The Physical World offer deep dives into physical reality’s mathematical foundations.