All Stories
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AnimalsGorgeous eco-bullies
‘Foreign’ lionfish — aquarium castoffs — have been invading American coastal waters at an alarming rate and gobbling up the natives.
By Janet Raloff -
- Brain
Caffeine rewires brains of baby mice
Brain changes and memory problems plagued mouse pups whose moms had consumed caffeine during pregnancy.
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SpaceKepler telescope can’t be fixed
It had been NASA’s top planet-hunting telescope.
By Andrew Grant -
ClimateClimate change: The long reach
Scientists who study the environment to better gauge Earth’s future climate now argue that current changes may not reverse for a very long time.
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PhysicsBaseball: From pitch to hits
Radar or cameras track the path of virtually every baseball in major league stadiums.
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TechExplainer: What is fracking?
Energy companies have found new use for hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from shale rock.
By Erica Gies -
BrainSleepyheads prefer junk food
A night without sleep changes the brain and how appetizing people find high-calorie foods.
By Janet Raloff -
EarthQuakes cause faraway sloshing
Right after a magnitude-9 quake in Japan, scientists knew that its tremors had set distant waters in northern Europe sloshing. Now they know how.
By Sid Perkins -
EarthNature’s coast guards
Barrier islands aren’t just for beach vacations — they protect coasts from storms and flooding.
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Health & MedicineCamels linked to mystery disease
A mysterious and deadly virus has sickened 94 people — killing 46 — in parts of the Middle East, Europe and northern Africa. A new study finds that camels (the one-humped type) may have introduced the new disease to people. The germ responsible is a virus that lives in people’s lungs, throats and noses. Scientists recently named the disease it causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.
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AnimalsExplainer: Animals’ role in human disease
Wildlife, livestock and pets are the source of most germs that can sicken people