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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Earth

    Gulf spill may have been somewhat bigger than feds, BP estimated

    Researchers estimate the oil output using a new technique developed for measuring the output of marine hydrothermal vents.

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  2. Tech

    A compass that lights the way

    Researchers develop a highly sensitive optical instrument for measuring magnetic fields.

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  3. Tech

    To tame traffic, go with the flow

    Lights should respond to cars, a study concludes, not the other way around.

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  4. Computing

    Most influential media Twitter feeds

    Computer scientists find surprises when they rank top 100.

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  5. Chemistry

    Light-harvesting complexes do it themselves

    A new technique could yield solar cells with no repair or assembly required.

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  6. Tech

    Tar sands ‘fingerprint’ seen in rivers and snow

    A new study refutes a government claim (one echoed by industry) that the gonzo-scale extraction of tar sands in western Canada — and their processing into crude oil — does not substantially pollute the environment.

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  7. Tech

    New help for greasy works of art

    NMR technique identifies oil stains, guiding art conservation efforts.

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  8. Chemistry

    Deep-sea oil plume goes missing

    Controversy arises over whether bacteria have completely gobbled oil up.

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  9. Computing

    Going viral takes a posse, not an army

    Quality of followers, not quantity, determines which tweets will fly

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  10. Humans

    Protecting innocent — and not so innocent — bystanders

    Technique removes pedestrians from Google Street View images.

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  11. Tech

    The people’s pulsar

    Thousands of volunteers help discover a neutron star by donating the processing power in their idle home computers.

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  12. Tech

    Research trials pose challenge to medical privacy

    How — or even whether — to share a medical data collected on research subjects poses a growing dilemma. Certainly, doctors would benefit from knowing if their patients had been receiving medicines, physical therapies or dietary supplements. Or if a patient had a history of drug abuse, mental illness, sexually transmitted diseases or engaging in risky behaviors. But in the wrong hands, such sensitive data could compromise an individual’s ability to keep a job — even retain shared custody rights to children during a contentious divorce.

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