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Finding suggests that sensitivity to visual context develops slowly

Plant pathogen could help track waters polluted with human waste

Studies examine physiology and technology to better foresee the ultimate edge of human performance

Adventures in the Tortugas reveal that seagrass fields need saving too

Copenhagen negotiations will take steps toward a climate-stabilizing treaty

Shielding palm-tree sap from fruit bats may limit spread of deadly disease

Trained as a microbiologist, Ken Nealson pursues many interdisciplinary endeavors. He was a pioneer in the field of geomicro-biology and has worked on astrobiology and microbial fuel cells. He holds p...

Review by Tom Siegfried

A cognitive neuroscientist describes how the brain has adapted to reading and what can cause reading problems.Viking, 2009, 400 p., $27.95.

Biological weapons pose unique threats to international security, beyond those caused by chemical and nuclear weapons, a policy expert argues.Cornell Univ. Press, 2009, 255 p., $35.

Feature may be ‘skylight’ in an underground lava tube

The frontline malaria medicine artemisinin shows gaps in effectiveness in Southeast Asia

Bacteria boost nutrients for fungal crops that feed millions of six-legged farmers

Multiple teams announce complete draft of the maize genome, with a full plate of surprises

Studies examine physiology and technology to better foresee the ultimate edge of human performance

Adventures in the Tortugas reveal that seagrass fields need saving too

Copenhagen negotiations will take steps toward a climate-stabilizing treaty

Scientists help to understand and protect sharks and coral reefs

In the race to make things disappear, scientists gain ground on science fiction

Chimp chasers join artifact extractors to probe the roots of stone tools

Scientists use microbes to create tiny power supplies

Burrowing animals mix soil and sediments, shaping the environment and scientists’ understanding of it

DNA in hand, scientists dissect and redefine the iconic lichen mutualism

Mixing light with nanotechnology could help treat cancer and build faster computers

Giant mammals went extinct thanks to climate, comet and people

Special issue on sleep

Brain studies may reveal the purpose of a behavior both basic and mystifying

Donkeys sleep about three out of each 24 hours. Certain reef fish spend the night moving their fins as if swimming in their sleep. Some biologists argue that all animals sleep in some form or...

Researchers inch closer to causes, cures for insomnia, narcolepsy

How does her garden grow? From fertile dirt with rusty nails, beer, and bacteria. At least according to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Now that spring has arrived, green thumbs are itching to get...

Rachel Carson aficionados will recognize The Sense of Wonder as the title of one of that environmentalist's books. The Environmental Protection Agency is using that title to invite people young and ol...

These children's tunes, produced in the late '50s and early '60s have a certain nostalgic innocence. At least some are traditional tunes given new expository lyrics. They deal with astronomy (like the...

Phenology may not be a word that trips off your tongue, but it may be one you want to consider adding to your vocabulary. It has the same root as phenomena, and in fact deals with biological events li...

A native prairie grass shows promise as a substitute for corn in the production of fuel ethanol—an additive to stretch fossil-fuel resources for transportation. University of Tennessee researcher...

On Feb. 26, the Encyclopedia of Life went live. This site hopes to become the definitive place to find information on every living species—millions and millions of them. The first extensive sets ...

Through March 8, an organization known as GLOBE at Night is asking for help tallying celestial bodies in the constellation Orion. Designed as a teaching aid, this star-counting program aims to emphasi...

Keep track of the ever-expanding list of newly discovered planets orbiting distant suns at PlanetQuest 2.0, a revamped Website developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It has images, "planet sys...

The federal Geographic Names Information System lists 14 sites around the nation named Valentine—Including Alta Mills, Kan., and Bedison, Mo., for which Valentine is an alternate moniker. You can...

As bubbles in the ocean burst, they release entrained microorganisms and other marine materials. As they're spewed into the air, these particles can serve as the basis of cloud particles. Researchers ...

You can become an online participant in tests of how the mind uses and processes words at this several-month-old site, administered by Harvard University's Cognition and Language Laboratory (with coll...

Three major business schools have teamed up to map some 20,000 sources of industrial pollution. You can search for polluters in a particular region, in a designated industry, or those associated with ...

Colorful and compelling, this science-rich, 15-minute video offers an up-close glimpse into the weird world of segmented worms—from nightcrawlers and leeches to feathery coral-dwelling dazzlers.G...

With the new year, people start thinking about dieting and developing better overall health habits. Want to know which regions of the nation started out the year as the most and least healthy—and...

Although the United Nations has officially designated 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth, the 3-year celebration actually began a year ago and will continue through December 2009. The prog...

Mathematicians find new answers to the still puzzling theorem that four colors suffice to color any map.

New, fair method for dividing states into congressional districts could reduce political squabbles.

Despite disliking mathematics, the great biologist inadvertently advanced statistics

An exhibit of mathematical art reveals the aesthetic side of math

Mathematicians use Sudoku to understand a mysterious, powerful algorithm

Happy people tend to have happy friends. That may or may not mean happiness is contagious.

Some game theory paradoxes can be resolved by assuming that people adopt multiple personae, and aren’t rational.

She pioneered the use of applied statistics to develop policy and developed novel ways of displaying them.

Mathematicians develop computer proof-checking systems in order to realize century-old dreams of fully precise, accurate mathematics.

When to stop shuffling depends on the game

New techniques are beginning to unravel the mysteries of knots, revealing a great mathematical superstructure in the process

The unifying theme of complex systems, a researcher argues, is frustration.

A rational person will vote, economists show, as an act of altruism.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings of colleges and universities are largely arbitrary, according to a new mathematical analysis.

The mathematics of dynamical systems reveals ocean dynamics, an understanding that could improve the monitoring of ocean processes.